Comey testimony lifts US shares
NEW YORK (Reuters) – US shares rose modestly and European stocks were little changed on Thursday as investors digested testimony from former FBI director James Comey before a Senate panel. The euro fell after the European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold, and oil prices briefly touched one-month lows.
Comey told US lawmakers in the congressional hearing he had no doubt that Russia had interfered with the election but was confident that no votes had been altered.
Investors also await the outcome of the general election in Britain as voting began on Thursday in a snap vote predicted to give Prime Minister Theresa May a larger parliamentary majority.
The FTS-Eurofirst 300 of top European equities briefly hit a three-week low of 1,526.29 after the ECB said subdued inflation meant it would continue to pump more stimulus into the region’s economy. It still judged the euro-zone economy to be rebounding and signaled it would not cut interest rates further.
“Comey might move the markets in the short term, but I don’t think it’s going to affect the intrinsic values of what many large US businesses are worth,” said Mike Mattioli, a portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management in Boston.
MSCI’s all-country world equity index was last down 0.33 points, or 0.07%, to 467.3.
In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 66.28 points, or 0.31%, to 21,239.97, the S&P 500 was up 3.87 points, or 0.16%, to 2,437.01, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 15.12 points, or 0.24%, to 6,312.50.
Europe’s broad FTS-Eurofirst 300 index closed down 0.04% to 1,528.71.
The euro hit its lowest since May 31 against the US dollar of $1.1196 after the ECB announcement. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was last up 0.3% to 97.016.
“Even though [the ECB decision] was well telegraphed over the last 24 hours, the future expectations on inflation came in a bit lower than the market had been anticipating,” said Dean Popplewell, the chief currency strategist at Oanda in Toronto. “That sort of weighed on the euro.”
Sterling fell 0.2% against the dollar to $1.2936 ahead of the British election outcome.
Oil prices rebounded after benchmark Brent crude and US crude prices hit one-month lows of $47.56 and $45.20, respectively.
Those troughs were hit after an unexpected surge in US inventories and the return of more Nigerian crude aggravated concerns about a worldwide glut.
Brent crude was last up 2 cents, or 0.04%, to $48.08 a barrel. US crude was last up 12 cents, or 0.26%, to $45.84 per barrel.
US Treasury yields edged higher after the ECB’s upgrade of its eurozone growth forecast, with benchmark 10-year yields last at 2.201%, compared with 2.180% late Wednesday.