Drop in Commodities pushes European equities lower

On Thursday a broad decline in commodities dragged European equities lower, while U.S. stock futures also dropped on a report the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election may also examine President Donald Trump’s conduct. The dollar rose after the Fed’s hawkish tone on Wednesday.

Yellen played down a softening of price pressures in the last few months and voiced confidence the central bank was on course to hit its 2 percent inflation goal. The Fed’s actions and words struck a careful balance between showing resolve to continue tightening in response to falling unemployment while acknowledging the persistence of unexpectedly low inflation this year. Policy makers agreed to raise their benchmark lending rate for the third time in six months, maintained their outlook for one more hike in 2017 and set out some details for how they intend to shrink their $4.5 trillion balance sheet this year.

Meanwhile, the special counsel investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election plans to interview two top U.S. intelligence officials about whether Trump sought their help to get the FBI to back off a related probe of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, according to three people familiar with the inquiry.

S&P 500 futures dropped 0.7 percent as of 11:41 a.m. in London. The gauge fell 0.1 percent on Wednesday, while the techheavy Nasdaq indexes retreated 0.4 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged higher to a fresh record. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated 0.8 percent as miners tumbled 2 percent.

West Texas crude futures swung between losses and gains before trading little changed at $44.72 a barrel, following a 3.7 percent drop in the previous session. U.S. gasoline supplies unexpectedly rose for a second week. Gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,258.63 an ounce after sliding 0.5 percent the previous day.