Yahoo Finance Before the bell: Euro dips, markets mixed
This week has been anything but a sleepy one as the TSX had its worst day in two weeks on Wednesday. European stocks have pared early gains Thursday, oil is hovering around US$99 per barrel and Wall Street is showing signs of a higher opening. As the end of 2011 inches forth, the European debt crisis remains a prominent concern.
European banks continue to park funds lent to them by the European Central Bank (ECB) versus using them to spur business activity or purchase the bonds of struggling countries. The cash pileup is hurting investor confidence and the euro currency as it dipped below US$1.30 — its lowest level in a year.
A much anticipated Italian 10-year government bond sale failed to ignite sluggish financial markets on Thursday, capping off the end of a disastrous year in Italian sovereign debt.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was flat at 240.19. London's FTSE 100 was 0.2 per cent higher at 5516.78, Frankfurt's DAX rose 0.4 per cent to 5793.25 and Paris's CAC-40 was up just 0.1 per cent at 3073.66.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.3 per cent to close at 8,398.89. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed 0.7 per cent lower at 18,397.92. Australia's S&P ASX 200 fell 0.4 per cent to end 4,071.10. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 per cent to end at 2,173.56.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's 500 Index and Nasdaq 100 Index futures are pointing higher. Yesterday, the Dow closed down 1.1 per cent to 12,151.41, the S&P 500 slid 1.3 per cent to close at 1,249.64, and the Nasdaq 100 lost 1.3 per cent to close at 2,589.98. Later this morning, hope is high more positive U.S. economic data will emerge in the form of weekly jobless claims and the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index.
Closer to home, the S&P/TSX Composite Index took a tumble by 198.26 points yesterday, or 1.7 per cent, to close at 11728.41 thanks largely to mining and energy declines. The Canadian dollar presently sits at 97.69¢ US.
