NEW YORK: US stocks ended mixed yesterday while oil prices rallied as markets assessed scepticism over Russia's latest statements on Ukraine and Federal Reserve minutes that contained no major surprises.
Wall Street equities were solidly negative just ahead of the afternoon release of the Fed minutes, which showed central bankers favouring a more aggressive pace of interest rate hikes compared with the last monetary tightening cycle.
Still, investors were already aware of that sentiment at the Fed, based on earlier comments from officials, said Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management.
“There was concern that perhaps there could have been some information in there that the market was not already aware of,” Cahill said, adding that stocks changed direction in relief.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.16%, the S&P 500 gained 0.09% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.11%. All 11 sectors of the S&P early in the session were higher, with the exception of the energy index, but stocks pared losses after the Fed minutes came out.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe reversed course to post a 0.32% gain, while its emerging markets index rose 1.23%.
Earlier, European equity markets finished lower as markets digested comments from western leaders questioning Russian statements that troops had pulled back from the Ukraine border.
Meanwhile, oil prices rose more than 1% yesterday as investors weighed conflicting statements on the possible withdrawal of some Russian troops from around Ukraine.
Futures fell after the settlement, however, after US and Iranian officials said they were much closer to an agreement on the latter's nuclear weapons development that would allow it to ramp up global oil sales.
“The market has been reflective of what the situation has been and what it could be, which is ambiguity from one day to the next,” said Edward Morse, global head of commodities research at Citi.
Brent crude settled up US$1.52, or 1.6%, to US$94.81 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude ended up US$1.59, or 1.7%, to US$93.66, pulling back from the day's high of US$95.01 a barrel. – AFP, Reuters