Dollar Climbs With European Stocks as Treasuries Decline
The dollar strengthened to a seven-year high against the yen before the Federal Reserve releases minutes of its last meeting, when it ended a bond-buying program. Treasuries and German bunds declined while stocks rose in Europe and the pound gained.
The U.S. currency appreciated 0.6 percent to 117.60 yen at 7:15 a.m. in New York. The pound gained 0.3 percent to $1.5675 after Bank of England minutes showed some policy makers raised concern that inflation may accelerate as spare capacity is limited. The 10-year Treasury yield increased three basis points to 2.35 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.3 percent and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures (SPX) were little changed after the gauge closed at a record. Russia sold less than 10 percent of bonds offered at its first auction in six weeks. Iron ore tumbled to the lowest level in more than five years.
While the Fed cited an improving job market at its October meeting, policy makers maintained a pledge to keep rates low for a “considerable time.” Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda warned inflation could fall below 1 percent, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called an early election and postponed a sales-tax increase yesterday. European bonds fell after European Central Bank policy maker Klaas Knot said he was skeptical about the benefits of quantitative easing.
“Expectations are for the Fed to reiterate its hawkish change in stance,” Michael Sneyd, a currency strategist at BNP Paribas SA in London. “We have bullish expectations for the dollar and we think the Fed minutes will support that view.”
Dollar Gains
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2 percent and is up 7.6 percent this year on speculation the Fed is moving closer to raising interest rates. Central bank officials, including New York Fed President William C. Dudley, have said they expect to raise U.S. borrowing costs next year.
Currencies from commodity-producing nations weakened, with the Aussie dollar and the kiwi both sliding 0.9 percent.
Basic-resource companies fell the most among 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600, while health-care stocks led gains. AstraZeneca Plc advanced for a second day, rising 1.4 percent. Rio Tinto Group slipped 1.8 percent.
BG Group Plc retreated 1.5 percent after people familiar with the process said its planned sale of the largest operations in the North Sea has stalled.
ICAP Plc lost 7.1 percent after the world’s largest broker of transactions between banks said pretax profit fell 10 percent in the first half of its fiscal year. Royal Mail Plc (RMG) dropped 4.7 percent after reporting earnings and announcing a dividend lower than analysts had estimated.
Gamesa Climbs
Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA climbed 1.8 percent after signing wind contracts. Abengoa SA rallied for a third day, up 5.8 percent.
Trading volumes in Stoxx 600 shares were 19 percent below the 30-day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in December slid after the index jumped the most since Nov. 5 yesterday. It has rebounded 10 percent from last month’s low.
Target Corp., Staples Inc., Lowe’s Cos. and L Brands Inc. are among companies reporting results today. About 79 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have reported this season have beatenanalyst estimates for profit, while 59 percent exceeded sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index slipped 0.2 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong retreated 0.4 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index swung to a loss of 0.2 percent.
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., the best-performing stock on the Hang Seng Index (HSI)this year, dropped 3.4 percent.
One Way
The 13 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) daily quota for international investors buying China shares was filled by 1:57 p.m. in Hong Kong. That compares with just 14 percent of the allowance for purchases of Hong Kong shares by investors in mainland China. When the daily quotas are used up, buying through the program is halted for the day.
Russia’s two-year yield jumped 23 basis points to 10.38 percent and the ruble slipped 0.1 percent against the dollar. The Finance Ministry sold 491 million rubles ($10 million) of May 2016 notes at a weighted-average yield of 10.06 percent, compared with 6.67 percent paid when it last issued similar-maturity debt in January. Investors bid for 2.16 billion rubles of the local-currency debt offered.
The yield on 10-year bunds rose four basis points to 0.84 percent and the rate on French bonds increased four basis points to 1.18 percent. Spanish bonds fell for a second day.
Iron Ore
Iron ore with 62 percent content delivered to Qingdao, China lost 4.4 percent to $71.80 a dry ton, the lowest since June 2009, according to Metal Bulletin Ltd. yesterday. Declining home prices in China added to concern that a slowdown in the world’s top buyer of ore will exacerbate a supply glut.
Brent crude rose 0.6 percent to $78.96 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate added 0.3 percent to $74.84. A car with explosives blew up in Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdish region, the local Rudaw news agency reported, with Al Jazeera television reporting six people killed. While Kurdish forces have been at the forefront of the fight against Islamic State militants, Erbil had so far been spared the worst of the violence.
Source: Bloomberg – Dollar Climbs With European Stocks as Treasuries Decline
