US stocks inch higher as investors await more data
US stock indices inched higher lifted by energy stocks. The dollar was flat: the live dollar index data show the ICE US dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, closed little changed at 100.491. Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.2% to 20689.24 led by Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) shares. The S&P 500 gained less than 0.1% settling at 2360.16 led by energy and materials stocks. The Nasdaq index added less than 0.1% to 5898.61.
Miners and energy shares lead European stocks higher
European stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday led by mining and energy stocks. The euro inched higher while British pound weakened against the dollar. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.2%, Germany’s DAX 30 closed 0.2% higher to 12282.34. France’s CAC 40 added 0.3% and UK’s FTSE 100 outperformed gaining 0.5% to 7321.82.
Chines stocks lead Asian markets higher
Asian stock indices are rising today led by Chinese shares which rallied after mainland markets reopened following a long weekend. Chinese construction shares led the rally after Beijing on Saturday announced plans to build Xiongan New Area, modeled on the Shenzhen special economic zone next to Hong Kong that helped kickstart China's economic reforms in 1980. Shanghai Composite Index is up 1.5% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is down 0.2%. Nikkei closed 0.3% higher at 18861.27 in a choppy trade as yen was little changed against the dollar and investors refrained from big bets ahead of Trump-Xi Jinping meeting starting Thursday. Australia’s All Ordinaries Index is up 0.3% lifted by commodity stocks as Australian dollar edged higher against the dollar.
Oil prices rise ahead of inventory data
Oil futures prices are extending gains today supported by production outage in UK’s oil field in the North Sea and American Petroleum Institute industry group report US crude stocks fell by 1.8 million barrels last week to 533.7 million. The Buzzard oil field in the North Sea, where the unplanned outage has occurred, produces about 180 thousand barrels per day. Prices closed higher on Tuesday, with June Brent crude closing 2% higher at $54.17 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. Today at 16:30 CET the Energy Information Administration will release US Crude Oil Inventories.