By Sinéad Carew
NEW YORK (Reuters) -MSCI’s global stock index gained ground on Thursday, bouncing back after a late sell-off in the previous session, while Treasury yields dipped with the dollar ahead of a key U.S. inflation reading due out on Friday morning.
Oil prices, after rallying earlier in the week due to concerns about shipping disruption in the Red Sea, fell on Thursday after Angola announced it is leaving the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Wall Street had suffered its biggest drop since September on Wednesday, likely helped by hedging activity associated with trading in short-dated options, according to analysts.
“Today’s market is trying to recover. This has been the hallmark of the latest phase in the market,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist, LPL Financial in Charlotte, NC.
“We’ve seen the fear of missing out has been powerful. We’ve institutional money managers who have to catch up if they’ve been behind competitors.”
Also, investors, keenly waiting for a Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) index report due out on Friday, appeared to be betting on data that would confirm easing inflation.
If expectations are that “this report could suggest a faster decline in core and super core inflation perhaps you’d want to come in today rather than wait until tomorrow,” Krosby said.
On Wall Street, the rose 239.25 points, or 0.65%, to 37,321.25, the gained 35.05 points, or 0.75%, to 4,733.4 and the added 127.62 points, or 0.86%, to 14,905.56.
The pan-European index lost 0.22% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.50%.
The U.S. dollar eased to a 3-day low against a basket of currencies as the previous session’s risk aversion-led lift for the U.S. currency faded and traders braced for U.S. inflation figures for clues to the path of future Fed policy.
The fell 0.498%, with the euro up 0.47% to $1.0989.
The Japanese yen strengthened 1.03% versus the greenback at 142.10 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2656, up 0.15% on the day.
In U.S. Treasuries, benchmark 10-year notes were down 0.8 basis points to 3.870%, from 3.877% late on Wednesday. The 30-year bond was last up 0.4 basis points to yield 4.0095%. The 2-year note was last was down 2.6 basis points to yield 4.3431%.
In commodities, recently fell 0.85% to $73.59 per barrel and was at $79.05, down 0.82% on the day.
Gold prices gained on Thursday as U.S. Treasury yields retreated after economic data fuelled expectations that the Federal Reserve would likely cut interest rates next year.
added 0.7% to $2,042.89 an ounce. U.S. gained 0.22% to $2,038.90 an ounce.
