US stocks ended last trading session higher despite geopolitical tensions. However, some economic data and the published minutes of the last meeting of the US Federal Reserve supported the sentiment.
At the end of the session Dow Jones noted only a minimal decrease of 0.01 percent to 21,478 points. The strongest growth in the index was recorded by shares of Intel, Microsoft and Boeing with 2.63%, 1.62% and 1.33%, respectively, while the largest decliners were Nike, Walt Disney and Chevron with 1 86%, 1.7% and 1.58% respectively.
S & P 500 rose by 0.15% to 2432 points. Nasdaq decreased by 0.67% to 6150 points. Investors caught the attention of the minutes of the last meeting of the Fed. The report makes it clear that the US central bank might start shrinking its reserves, which is estimated at 4.5 trillion dollar since September.
US central bank bought bonds for trillions of dollars after the Great Recession in order to maintain low interest rates to support economic recovery. Now the Fed is trying to remove stimulus once the economy has entered a ninth year of expansion and is hardly back to normal.
Attempts by the Fed to tighten monetary policy, however, faced concerns about inflation. In late 2016 and early 2017 consumer prices increased sharply, but most bankers believe that this is a temporary trend. Still, the Fed continues to believe that it will meet its target of 2% inflation within a year.
Analysts say that investors are slightly disappointed because they expect more concrete date from which the Fed will start to shrink their reserves, and in what form.
Following the publication of the minutes dollar rose in currency markets, the dollar index, which reflects the dynamics of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.1 percent to 96.26 points.
The pair EUR / USD traded at 1.1339 dollars for one euro, the yen reached 113.34 yen per dollar.
Oil prices posted their strongest decline of one month after news came out that Russia rejects any way to deepen yields. Separately were published data showing growth in exports of OPEC.
Futures on US light crude oil for August delivery erased 1.94% (4.1%) on the stock exchange in New York. It was the first loss of the benchmark of nine sessions since the most intense decline of 7 June.
In London, Brent crude for delivery in September wiped 1.82 dollars (3.7%) to 47.49 dollars per barrel.
At the same time the price of gold for delivery in August rose 2.5 dollars (0.2%) to 1 221.7 dollars an ounce. Precious metal touched a level of 1 216.50 dollars – the lowest for the session.
