US STOCKS-S&P 500 eyes best three-day gain since Trump's election - Reuters News
06-Apr-2018 12:16:27 AM
• Facebook up after CEO says no "meaningful impact" on ad sales
• Industrials lead gains on Dow
• U.S. trade deficit rises to near 9-1/2-year high
• Indexes up: Dow 1.46 pct, S&P 1.03 pct, Nasdaq 0.92 pct
Changes comment, adds details, updates prices
By Sruthi Shankar
April 5 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 on Thursday headed for its best three-day rise since President Donald Trump's election as technology and industrial shares bolstered a recovery on easing trade war concerns.
Shares of Boeing and Caterpillar, among the worst hit on Wednesday after China retaliated with $50 billion in tariffs on U.S. goods such as soybeans, autos, and some types of aircraft, rose 1.7 percent and 3 percent.
"There is a lot of bad news on the trade front built into the market. So the ability of the equity markets to push significantly lower is going to be limited," said John Brady, senior vice president at R.J. O'Brien & Associates in Chicago.
"We're going to need brand new, bad news on trade for the equity markets to push lower."
Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet and Netflix - collectively known as the "FANG" group - were up between 1.2 percent and 2.6 percent.
At 12:02 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.46 percent at 24,617.39. The S&P 500 gained 1.03 percent to 2,671.85 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.92 percent to 7,106.54.
If current gains for S&P 500 hold, it would be the best three-day run since Trump's election victory in November 2016.
Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 1.2 percent gain on the material and the energy indexes.
The S&P 500 index showed four new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 47 new highs and 24 new lows.
Facebook shares gained after Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company had not seen "any meaningful impact" on usage or ad sales since the data privacy scandal.
"Zuckerberg is going to testify the Congress next week on the Facebook issues, so probably there's some bargain hunting in FANG space," said Brady.
On Wednesday, the Dow bounced back from a 500 point fall earlier to close up about 230 points after President Donald Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the administration was involved in a "negotiation" with China rather than a trade war.
Economic data on Thursday showed the U.S. trade deficit increased to a near 9-1/2-year high in February, but the shortfall with China narrowed sharply. While exports to China were unchanged in February, imports from the country declined 14.7 percent.
Advanced Micro Devices jumped 3.2 percent after Stifel upgraded to "buy", while Micron Technology fell 5.3 percent after UBS started with a "sell" rating.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE for a 2.76-to-1 ratio and on the Nasdaq for a 1.90-to-1 ratio.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
UPDATE 5-Oil gains with equities as U.S.-China tensions ease - Reuters News
05-Apr-2018 11:39:52 PM
• Investors hope for U.S., China trade negotiations
• U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 4.6 mln barrels -EIA
• Qatar says OPEC supply cuts should continue
Updates prices, changes byline, dateline; previous LONDON
By Ayenat Mersie
NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices were modestly higher on Thursday, helped by gains in U.S. equities markets as trade tensions between China and the United States eased, but the advance was limited by strength in the dollar.
Brent crude futures were up 29 cents to $68.31 a barrel at 11:27 a.m. EDT (1527 GMT), and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 14 cents to $63.50 a barrel.
After a day of concern over tit-for-tat responses between the United States and China over tariffs on various products, market nerves were calmed as U.S. officials said the countries could negotiate.
"Oil prices are profiting from the general brightening of sentiment on the markets as signs emerge that the trade dispute is easing between the U.S. and China," analysts at Commerzbank said in a note.
The strength of the U.S. dollar was a headwind for oil, said Bill Baruch, president of Blue Line Futures in Chicago.
The U.S. dollar rose to a more than one-month high against a basket of major currencies. Because oil is dollar-priced, a stronger greenback makes purchases in other currencies more expensive and exerts downward pressure on oil.
Oil prices have moved in tandem with the U.S. stock market throughout the year, though that relationship has broken down somewhat in the last few weeks. All three major U.S. stock indexes were higher on Thursday, after the United States said it could negotiate with China on trade issues.
Oil was also supported by an unexpected decline in U.S. crude inventories Wednesday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels in the most recent week, compared with expectations for an increase of 246,000 barrels.
U.S. crude production hit a new high, but that was not enough to change the overall bullishness of the report, said Baruch.
The extent to which U.S. production increases counterbalances output cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will be critical, said Gene McGillian, manager of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford.
The energy minister of OPEC member Qatar told Reuters that organization and its allies should maintain supply cuts.
OPEC and its allies are collectively curbing 1.8 million barrels per day of crude output to help eliminate a global oil glut. The cuts run until the end of 2018 but Saudi Arabia has said they could be extended in some form into 2019.
(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London, Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Gold Prices Gain Amid Weaker Dollar - MIST
05-Apr-2018 11:26:49 PM
Investing–
Gold prices gained on Wednesday as dollar weakened after the U.S. slapped tariffs on $50 billion worth imports from China.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $1.70, or 0.13%, to $1,339.0 a troy ounce by 12:24AM ET (04:24 GMT).
Trading tensions were cited as a catalyst for the buying as investors stayed away from risk assets. The Trump administration proposed on Tuesday to impose 25%tariffs on nearly $50 billion worth of made-in-China products - around 1,300 industrial technology, transport and medical products to be particular.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies last stood at 89.76, down 0.10%. %. It dropped from an overnight high at 89.92 to below the 89.80 level.
Dollar-denominated assets such as gold are sensitive to moves in the dollar – a fall in the dollar makes gold cheaper for holders of foreign currency and thus increases demand for the precious metal.
More directional drivers for the dollar this week will be the U.S. payrolls data and comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures gained 0.20% to $16.425 a troy ounce, while platinum futures slipped 0.20% to $927.50 an ounce.
Copyright (c) 2018 Sourced by MIST all rights reserved
GRAINS-Soybeans edge up as market digests Chinese tariff threat - Reuters News
06-Apr-2018 01:04:03 AM
Updates prices, adds comments; changes byline, dateline, previous PARIS/SYDNEY
By Michael Hirtzer
CHICAGO, April 5 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures rallied more than 1 percent on Thursday as investors played down the immediate impact of proposed Chinese tariffs on U.S. supplies, a move that had sent prices plunging a day earlier.
U.S. winter wheat futures jumped as much as 2 percent, lifted by worries that cold temperatures could stress crops in the southern Plains. Corn futures also gained as spring sowings could get off to a slow start due to soggy weather.
Prices for both soybeans and corn stayed within ranges established during Wednesday's session, when China proposed imposing tariffs on U.S. soybeans. China buys about two-thirds of globally traded soybeans.
"We're bouncing off the lows from yesterday and the higher stock market is probably helping," said Highground Trading broker Scott Capinegro.
Chicago Board of Trade May soybeans were up 16 cents to $10.31-1/4 per bushel, recovering a portion of the declines notched in the previous session. CBOT May corn was up 7 cents at $3.88 per bushel as of 11:58 a.m. CDT (1658 GMT).
Traders doubted whether China could shun U.S. soybeans given its huge import requirements, while investors more widely saw signs the two sides may choose to negotiate.
"At second glance ... it becomes clear that U.S. soybeans are exported to China predominantly between October and March - that is to say during and shortly after the U.S. harvest – so most of the soybeans should already have been shipped by now," Commerzbank analysts said in a note.
However, the uncertainty created by the Chinese-U.S. trade row could still weigh on U.S. prices, some analysts said.
"It is going to mean surplus soybeans, and lower soybean prices in the U.S.," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
CBOT May wheat was up 8-1/2 cents to $4.64-1/4 per bushel and K.C. May wheat was 11 cents higher at $4.97.
Sub-freezing temperatures forecast on Friday night in the Plains would add to wheat crop stress in a region already suffering from dry weather, the Commodity Weather Group said in a note.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday that only 32 percent of the U.S. winter wheat crop was in good to excellent condition, the lowest rating for this point in the crop year since 2002.
(Additional reporting by Colin Packham in Sydney and Gus Trompiz in Paris
Editing by James Dalgleish)
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