In Asian Equity Markets stocks marked time on Thursday, with China nudging lower, while the U.S. dollar held below an 11-week high as investors reassessed U.S. Federal Reserve statements on inflation and looked to upcoming data for direction. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1 percent to 695.2 points, off a one-month trough of 685.12 touched earlier this week. Japan’s Nikkei rose slightly to 28,905.5, while the broader Topix fell 0.14 percent to 1,946.45. Chinese stocks were in the red with the blue-chip CSI300 index off 0.3 percent.

In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar vacillated below an 11-week high versus major peers on Thursday as traders attempted to navigate conflicting signals from Federal Reserve officials on the timing of a withdrawal of monetary stimulus. The yen weakened as far as 111.11 per dollar for the first time in 15 months on Thursday, and was last mostly flat at 111.03. The euro was little changed at $1.19220 compared to the previous session, when it rose as high as $1.19700 for the first time in a week. The dollar index stood at 91.847 in Asia after rebounding from as low as 91.509 on Wednesday.

In US Equity Markets the Nasdaq climbed to a record-high close on Wednesday, fueled by a rally in Tesla Inc, while the S&P 500 fell, even as investors cheered data that showed a record peak for U.S. factory activity in June. The Dow fell 0.21 percent to end at 33,874.24 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.11 percent to 4,241.84. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.13 percent to 14,271.73. Gains in Nvidia Corp and Facebook Inc extended a recent rebound in top-shelf growth stocks that fell out of favor in recent months as investors focused on companies expected to do well as the economy recovers from the pandemic.

In Commodities Markets oil prices rose to their highest in more than two years after an industry report on U.S. crude inventories reinforced views of a tightening market as travel picks up in Europe and North America. Brent crude futures were up 0.71 percent at $75.34 a barrel and U.S. crude gained 0.62 percent to trade at $73.3 per barrel. Spot gold rose 0.4 percent to $1,785.32 per ounce and  U.S. gold futures were up 0.5 percent to $1,786.60. Elsewhere, silver rose 1.3 percent to $26.08 per ounce and palladium climbed 2.8 percent to $2,629.45. Platinum was up 1.1 percent to $1,091.08.

In European Equity Markets stocks technology stocks rose on Wednesday after a record finish for their U.S. peers overnight, while the pan-European STOXX 600 hovered below record highs as investors awaited business activity data from across the euro zone. The benchmark STOXX 600 was up 0.2 percent, while the technology index rose 0.6 percent and was among the biggest sectoral gainers. The FTSE 100 gained 0.1 percent with miners BHP Group and Anglo American being the biggest boost to the index, while travel stocks rose nearly 7 percent.

In Bond Markets ten-year Treasury yields inched higher but remained below 1.5 percent in muted trading on Wednesday, one day after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reaffirmed in congressional testimony the central bank’s view that rising inflation will likely be temporary. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.4869 percent, while shorter-term 2-year yields edged higher to 0.2621 percent. Long duration 30-year Treasury yields inched up to 2.1104 percent. Germany’s benchmark Bund yield traded at -0.176 percent.