BS: Global Stocks Advance Before Central Bank Policy Meetings
The euro strengthened while U.S. stock-index futures advanced with commodities as European policy makers held borrowing costs at record lows and American jobless claims trailed economists’ estimates.
The euro gained 0.7 percent to 102.03 yen at 9:01 a.m. in New York for a sixth straight increase, the longest winning streak since March. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.5 percent and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed. The JPMorgan G7 Volatility Index of currencies touched the lowest in almost five years. Oil rose 1 percent after falling 4.1 percent yesterday, and gasoline was up 2.6 percent.
The European Central Bank left its benchmark at 0.75 percent and Bank of England policy makers also held their key interest rate at a historic low of 0.5 percent. In the U.S., 367,000 people filed initial jobless claims last week, below the median forecast of 370,000. A Labor Department report tomorrow is projected to show the U.S. added 115,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate increased to 8.2 percent.
“The most important message will be from the employment data from the U.S. on Friday,” said Herbert Perus, who helps oversee about $36 billion as head of equities at Raiffeisen in Vienna. “This will be crucial.”
Stoxx 600
The yen fell against all but one of its major peers as the Bank of Japan started a two-day meeting after expanding stimulus last month. Price swings in major currencies have waned, with the JPMorgan G7 Volatility Index reaching 7.72 percent today, the lowest level since October 2007.
Halfords Group Plc (HFD) jumped a record 15 percent after the U.K. retailer of bicycles and car parts said earnings will be in the upper half of its previous forecast. Nobel Biocare Holding AG slid 6 percent in Zurich as the world’s second-biggest maker of dental implants said full-year profit will be hurt by a deteriorating Japanese market.
The gain in S&P 500 futures indicated the U.S. gauge will rise for a fourth day. Another report today may show factory orders declined 5.9 percent in August after increasing 2.8 percent a month earlier, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) slipped 0.5 percent in early trading. The shares plummeted 13 percent to a decade low yesterday after Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman forecast 2013 profit that missed estimates and said a turnaround at the computer maker won’t happen any time soon. Avery Dennison Corp. may move today after 3M Co. scrapped an agreement to buy its office products business.
Treasuries fell, pushing the 10-year note yield one basis point higher to 1.63 percent, before the Federal Reserve releases minutes of its Sept. 12-13 meeting.
Spanish government bonds stayed lower after the nation sold 3.99 billion euros ($5 billion) of securities. It auctioned 3.75 percent notes maturing in 2015 at an average yield of 3.956 percent, up from 3.845 percent at the last sale on Sept. 20. It also sold notes maturing in 2014 at 3.282 percent and 2017 securities at 4.766 percent.
Yields Rise
The nation’s three-year note yields rose four basis points to 3.95 percent, while the rate on the two-year security was six basis points higher at 3.28 percent.
Indian stocks rallied to the highest level in more than a year the cabinet considered further measures to open up Asia’s third-largest economy. The cabinet approved a proposal to allow overseas companies to own as much as 49 percent in local insurers versus the current limit of 26 percent, Ajay Maken, minister of sports, said in New Delhi. The BSE India Sensitive Index, or Sensex, jumped as much as 1.3 percent.
The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 commodities rose 1 percent, the first gain in three days. West Texas Intermediate oil gained 1 percent to $88.99 a barrel in New York and gold futures advanced 0.5 percent to $1,789 an ounce.
Oil slid yesterday after the Energy Department said output rose to 6.52 million barrels a day last week, the most since December 1996. Total fuel consumption in the four weeks ended Sept. 28 decreased 0.3 percent to the lowest level since April.
Turkey’s bond yields climbed 16 basis points, or 0.16 percentage point, to 7.73 percent, the highest level in a month, as its armed forces fired into the Syrian territory in retaliation to shelling yesterday that killed five people.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Shanahan in London at mshanahan3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net
