Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Thursday, February 16:
1. Dollar's 11-day rally runs out of steam
The U.S. dollar pulled back against a basket of major currencies on Thursday, as the greenback's 11-day winning streak ran out of steam despite a brighter outlook for interest rate hikes.
The dollar index was down around 0.3% to 100.74 in early New York morning hours, moving away from Wednesday's high of 101.75, which was its strongest level since January 12.
Up until Wednesday, the dollar index had enjoyed a 10-session winning streak.
Against the yen, the greenback was down about 0.5% to 113.60, off Wednesday's two-and-a-half-week high of 114.17, while the euro climbed 0.3% to 1.0633, bouncing off the prior session's five-week low of 1.0520.
2. Global stock market rally falters
U.S. stock market futures pointed to a flat open on Thursday morning, with investors pausing for breath after fresh record closes in the previous session, as traders eyed more earnings and data.
Meanwhile, European stocks declined, heading for their first drop in eight sessions, on concern the longest rally since July 2015 went too far.
Earlier, in Asia, markets ended mixed, with the Shanghai Composite in China closing up around 0.5%, while Japan's Nikkei slumped 0.5%.
3. Havens in demand
Demand for safe-haven assets, such as gold and U.S. Treasuries, was boosted on Thursday, as investor appetite for risk abated and caution appeared to set in the markets.
Gold rose to $1,240.25 a troy ounce, the most since February 9. It was last at $1,238.55, up $5.45, or around 0.5%.
Meanwhile, U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields slipped to 2.479%, after climbing to a three-week high of 2.524% on Wednesday.
4. More U.S. data ahead
Market players will be looking for economic data to continue to paint a positive story on the U.S. economy and reinforce the idea that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates as early as next month.
The U.S. will publish data on weekly jobless claims, housing starts, building permits and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing, all due at 8:30AM ET (13:30GMT).
Hawkish comments by Fed Chair Janet Yellen combined with better-than-expected U.S. inflation and retail sales data this week boosted prospects of a March interest rate hike from the Fed.
Fed fund futures priced in around a 27% chance of a rate hike in March, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool, up from less than 10% at the start of the week. Odds of a June increase was seen at around 74%.
5. Snapchat parent sets valuation at lower end of expectation
Snap Inc, the owner of the popular messaging app Snapchat, has set a valuation range for itself of $19.5 billion to $22.2 billion in its initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.
The valuation range, which represents $14 to $16 per share, is near the low end of the $20 billion to $25 billion the Snapchat parent company had earlier targeted.
The stock could be priced as soon as March 1 and begin trading the following day on the NYSE under the ticker "SNAP."