After European stocks that closed lower amid a recovery in oil prices from session lows and while the US stocks had posted five straight weeks of gains on Friday, with both the S&P 500 and Dow recovering from a 10 percent correction earlier in the quarter to close higher year-to-date, in a general bullish trend, Wall Street’s stocks closed slightly higher again today, despite low volumes traded with telecommunications and health care stocks leading.
Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17623.87 up 21.57 points or 0.12%. The S&P 500 Index finished 2051.60, up 2.02 points or 0.10% while the Nasdaq Composite Index closed 4808.87 up 13.23 points or 0.28%. A slow start to the week, event wise, the greenback was underpinned by comments from FED’s Williams and Lockhart, both leaving the door open for a hike in April.
According to Reuters, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said early in the session that inflation in the US will likely accelerate in the coming years and move toward the Fed’s 2 percent target. Then, we had Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart who said in a speech that a rate hike could come as early as next month. Meanwhile, as a non-voting member of the Fed’s policymaking committee this year, Lockhart also said he expected continued job market improvements for the year ahead. We now await St. Louis Fed President James Bullard to speak on economic inequality in the evening.
In respect of April’s meeting, it is still live despite a press conference or any economic projections. However, the market has written any action from the Fed off from that meeting after the surprise dovish outcome of last week’s meeting. June is still on the cards but some observers are not expecting anything until September, supporting the stock market on cheap money.
Oil closed at $39.91, up 47 cents or 1.19pct while US treasury yields were higher, with the 2-year yield near 0.87 percent and the 10-year yield around 1.92 percent.
The U.S. dollar index traded slightly higher, with the euro near $1.125 and the yen at 111.89 yen against the greenback.
(Market News Provided by FXstreet)