Wall Street mixed as oil prices decline for 6th session
U.S. President Donald Trump tapped Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran to serve as a Federal Reserve governor.
Oil prices ended down for a sixth straight session after the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet with Trump, who is seeking a breakthrough to end the Ukraine war.
Prices of gold, seen as a safe haven in volatile times, extended gains to a two-week high.
U.S. Treasury yields were modestly higher following a soft auction of 30-year bonds, the latest in a string of sales showing lackluster demand.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS), opens new tab rose 3.03 points, or 0.32%, to 936.26.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab fell 0.51% to 43,968.64 and the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab declined 0.08% to 6,340.00 as shares of Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab dropped after data from its oral weight loss drug disappointed.
The Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 0.35% to 21,242.70.
"(There) are persistent risks to the downside. Downside surprises in official data are increasing," Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda wrote in a note. "Valuations are also stretched, with forward price to earnings hovering around the highest in four years. And trade uncertainty persists."
Earlier, shares were under pressure from a report that Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller was Trump's top candidate to become the central bank chair, raising concerns over the Fed's independence.
Higher U.S. tariffs on imports from dozens of countries kicked in on Thursday, raising the average U.S. import duty to the highest in a century.
European shares logged their biggest daily rise in over two weeks on Thursday, boosted by financial stocks as investors weighed mixed corporate earnings and U.S. tariffs.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab closed at a one-week high.
Plans for a meeting between Trump and Putin over the war in Ukraine also helped sentiment in European equities and underpinned the euro.
A ceasefire "would be an extra positive," said Emmanuel Cau, Barclays head of European equity strategy.
The Bank of England cut interest rates, but four of its nine policymakers, worried about inflation, voted to keep rates unchanged.
The split vote suggested the BoE's run of rate cuts might be nearing an end. Sterling strengthened 0.67% to $1.3444.
"The vote split is clearly a lot more hawkish than I was expecting," said Dominic Bunning, head of G10 FX strategy at Nomura.
Japanese shares earlier hit a record high. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab closed up 1.03%, as Japan's Nikkei (.N225), opens new tab gained 0.65%.
Taiwan's stock benchmark (.TWII), opens new tab jumped as much as 2.6% to a more than one-year peak. Shares in chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW), opens new tab, which this year announced additional investment in its U.S. production facilities and so is expected to be relatively unscathed by the U.S. tariff on imported chips, soared to a record high.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.14%, with the euro up 0.07% at $1.1667.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 1 basis points to 4.242%, and the 30-year bond yield advanced 1.1 basis points to 4.8221%.
In commodities, spot gold rose 0.93% to $3,399.67 an ounce and touched its highest since July 23. U.S. gold futures settled 0.6% higher at $3,453.70 an ounce.
Global oil prices wiped out earlier gains, with both benchmarks touching eight-week lows after Trump's comments on progress in talks with Moscow.
Brent crude futures settled down 46 cents, or 0.7%, at $66.43 a barrel. U.S. crude futures fell 47 cents, or 0.7%, to $63.88.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Nice house? Labour wants to tax it, Kemi Badenoch tells Middle England
Kemi Badenoch warns today that Labour is plotting a tax raid on homes for the billions needed to fill the fiscal black hole. The Tory leader says Rachel Reeves saw property as a 'cash machine' to plug the gap in the public finances. The Chancellor is coming under pressure from both flanks of the Labour Party to bring in a 'wealth tax'. She must find £50billion in tax rises or spending cuts to balance the books, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said last week. Writing in the Daily Mail, Mrs Badenoch warns that Labour could change council tax bands or introduce a tax on the value of land, adding: 'A home is more than bricks and mortar. It is the reward for years of hard work, saving and sacrifice. It is security for our families. And it should not be treated like a cash machine for the Chancellor.' She says a plan by Labour's Welsh government to target property wealth by revaluing homes and pushing them into higher council tax bands could be introduced in England. And she raised concerns Labour could adopt a suggestion in the NIESR report that the party should introduce a 'land value tax'. The respected think-tank said the Chancellor should consider reforming council tax or even replacing it altogether with a land value tax. This tax, once championed by the party under Jeremy Corbyn, would replace stamp duty and council tax by introducing a flat levy on the price of land. The idea was last seriously proposed by David Lloyd George in 1909, but fears that it could become a new poll tax have deterred successive governments. Ms Reeves is under pressure from the Left and Right of her party to reform property taxes as MPs warn that the current system is unfair. Blue Labour, an influential faction within the party that is economically Left wing but culturally conservative, wants an overhaul of taxation on homes. Earlier this year it urged the Chancellor to consider changing council tax rules so that poorer parts of the country were not hit unfairly, adding: 'Our tax system needs reform to reflect new realities, including that most value is tied up in land and assets rather than income. 'We should consider taxes on assets, and updating council tax bands to ensure it no longer disproportionately hits those in poorer parts of the country.' Mr Corbyn's new party is expected to call for a land value tax to replace council tax. Other supporters include Labour peer Dame Margaret Hodge, Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake and the TaxPayers' Alliance. But a Treasury source had 'not heard' that such a tax might come in. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner is planning the biggest shake-up of local government funding in more than a decade to divert money from the South to more deprived areas. The Treasury said: 'The best way to strengthen public finances is growing the economy, which is our focus. Thanks to our planning reforms, the Office for Budget Responsibility has said the economy is expected to grow by the end of the decade.' During the general election Labour said it was not planning to reform council tax and ruled out rebanding properties.
Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Elon Musk's Tesla gears up to sell energy to UK homes as new household supplier
The company's UK car sales may have hit a bump in the road. But Elon Musk 's Tesla is preparing to move beyond vehicle sales by launching a household electricity supplier. Tesla Electric will likely integrate closely with the firm's electric cars and home batteries. The company's energy subsidiary Tesla Energy Ventures applied to regulator Ofgem for an electricity supply licence last month. And it's possible Tesla could be supplying customers electricity before the year ends as the process can take anywhere from a matter of weeks to nine months. It has not applied for a gas supply licence. Having sold more than 250,000 vehicles in the UK as well as chargers and Powerwall home battery systems, the company has a wide potential customer base. But figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed Tesla sales plummeted 60 per cent in the UK last month compared to July 2024. Tesla registered just 987 vehicles, compared to 2,462 in July 2024 amid a backlash against chief executive Mr Musk for his involvement with Donald Trump's White House and his support for hard-Right parties in Europe. Tesla sales have slumped amid a backlash against Musk for his involvement with Donald Trump's White House and his support for hard-Right parties in Europe An ageing line-up of models and increasing competition have also contributed to a general decline in sales across European markets this year, although Tesla did record a 14 per cent year-on-year increase in June in the UK. Tesla has run an electricity supply division in Texas since 2022, where customers are charged a flat fee for unlimited Tesla charging at certain hours of the day. Customers with Powerwall batteries connect them to the grid and are paid when the firm uses electricity from them to power other homes, in what it calls a 'virtual power plant'. And job adverts for the UK business suggest Tesla will apply the same idea, helping to balance out inconsistent energy sources such as wind and solar, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
The Sun
12 minutes ago
- The Sun
20% of young people stay in unhappy relationships because they can't afford to split up, study shows
MANY young adults stay in unhappy relationships because they can't afford to split, a study says. Some 21 per cent of 3,000 people polled aged 18 to 40 admitted remaining with their partner because bills would otherwise be too high. The research for Lifetime Isa provider OneFamily found 16 per cent of those in couples did not have any savings to fall back on. OneFamily chief exec Jim Islam said: 'People are potentially staying in unhappy relationships because the bills are too high to contemplate managing on their own. 'It's a tax on being single, made worse by the rising bills.' Mr Islam urged people to save up an emergency fund. He said: 'Financial independence is crucial, since it enables freedom. "It needs to be talked about in schools alongside good savings habits. 'Building a savings pot absolutely supports financial resilience, which means less vulnerability to the ups and downs of life.' Of those that can afford to save, the research found that singletons put away £301 per month — less than half the £609 that those with partners save. 1
