In European Equity Markets stocks finished higher Thursday afternoon, on the last trading day of the quarter, with a rally in the autos sector helping to boost investor sentiment. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 0.6 percent with most sectors finishing in positive territory. For the whole quarter, the benchmark still finished lower by 5 percent after steep falls earlier in the year. Autos were the top gainers Thursday, driven higher by Renault. The car maker’s shares were up by 6 percent following a media report that the company could merge with Nissan. The shares traded close to a 10-year high earlier on the news, but the firm has declined to comment on the report.
In Currency Markets the US dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies on Thursday, as its rebound from a five-week low, touched earlier this week, ran out of steam and trading activity slowed down ahead of the long Easter weekend in many of the world’s largest trading centers. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was about flat on the day at 90.066. The index was down about 2 percent for the quarter, on pace for its fifth straight quarter of declines. The greenback was 0.52 percent lower against the yen, after rising 1.4 percent over the previous two sessions.
In Commodities Markets oil prices slipped on Thursday as another rise in U.S. inventories and production outweighed the prospect of OPEC sticking to its output curbs for the rest of the year. Brent crude, the international benchmark, touched $71 a barrel on Tuesday, near its high for the year, but has dipped since then. June Brent crude futures were down 35 cents at $68.41, while the May contract expiring on Thursday was down 25 cents at $69.28. WTI crude futures CLc1 fell 11 cents to $64.27. Oil has risen by about 4 percent since January, on track for its third consecutive quarter of price increases and the longest stretch of quarterly gains since late 2010.
In US Equity Markets stocks jumped on Thursday as technology shares bounced back from a sharp selloff ahead of a long weekend that marks the end of a turbulent quarter for Wall Street. Shares of Facebook, Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft were up between 1 percent and 4 percent, driving a 1.8 percent gain in the S&P technology index. The S&P 500 gained 1.18 percent to 2,635.85 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.37 percent at 7,044.63. Amazon fell more than 1 percent after President Donald Trump blasted the company with a list of complaints, a day after news website Axios reported that Trump wants to rein in the company’s growing power using federal antitrust laws.
In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields fell on Thursday, marking a comeback for the $14.6 trillion sector as investors piled into low-risk government bonds on worries about economic growth and a dramatic pullback in stock prices in March. The U.S. bond market will close early at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) and shut for the Good Friday holiday. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was down 1.8 basis points at 2.757 percent. It hit a seven-week low of 2.743 percent on Wednesday.