Equities advance after Wall Street ended mixed again - 2.26 日

The Dollar weakening has reversed today. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, ended 0.4% lower on Tuesday.

GBP/USD joined EUR/USD’s accelerated advancing yesterday. Both Pound and euro are lower against the dollar currently. AUD/USD joined USD/JPY’S renewed sliding on Tuesday with both the yen and Australian dollar lower against the Greenback currently.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are up currently with the yield on benchmark 10-year US notes up at 4.327%. Stock indexes ended mixed on Tuesday recording daily returns in a range of -1.35% to 0.37% after Conference Board survey showed US consumer confidence in February registered its largest monthly decline since August 2021.

European stock indexes futures are rising currently after closing mixed on Tuesday while defense stocks continued to gain after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced UK will spend £13.4 billion more on defense every year from 2027. Asian indexes futures are mostly advancing today with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leading gains as a rally in major Chinese internet stocks resumed on persistent optimism over the country’s artificial intelligence capabilities.

Brent is edging up currently. Prices fell over 2% yesterday as data showed US consumer confidence in February deteriorated at its sharpest pace in three and half years, with 12-month inflation expectations surging. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped 2.5% but is higher currently. Brent fell 2.4% to $73.02 a barrel on Tuesday.