Australian Market

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed flat, with energy stocks strengthening but offset by broad-based weakness across the market. The energy sector was the session’s best performer, closing 2.2% higher.

US Market 

U.S. stocks moved lower, stumbling again after a red-hot start to the week. The S&P 500 fell 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.2%, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.7%. The S&P 500 had soared a combined 5.7% on Monday and Tuesday-its best two-day percentage gain since April 2020. But Wednesday’s performance, when all three indexes finished lower, served as a reminder that rallies in 2022 have often been fleeting.

“This week has been a really good example of where market psychology is, ” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance. “There are risks to the economy and corporate profits. The question is: Are enough of those challenges priced in?” Earlier Thursday, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.4%, pulling back from Wednesday’s strong rebound. Property stocks were lower. Stocks in mainland China remained closed for National Day. The Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.7%, helped by gains in energy shares, despite uncertainties about the global economic outlook.

Commodities

Gold futures ended unchanged, with investors expecting the metal to take its next directional cue from the monthly U.S. jobs data due Friday. Prices for the yellow metal held onto a climb for the week after recently climbing to their highest level in three weeks.

Gold futures for December delivery settled flat at $1,720.80 per ounce on Comex. Everyone will be “closely watching tomorrow’s U.S. September nonfarm payrolls and its impact on the November Federal Reserve meeting,” said Chintan Karnani, director of research at Insignia Consultants. There has to be an increase in unemployment in the U.S. for the market to see a slower pace of interest-rate hikes, he said.

Oil Futures

Oil futures tallied a fourth straight session climb, with global benchmark crude settling at its highest price in a month, a day after OPEC+ agreed to cut production. Still, analysts questioned how much of an impact the OPEC+ output cut, announced Wednesday, would actually have on global supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery rose 0.8% to settle at $88.45 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. December Brent crude added 1.1% to $94.42 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

“The [output cuts] has been harshly criticized by U.S. leadership and is largely viewed as a victory for Russia, where crude exports face the threat of a coordinated price cap by Western leaders,” said Robbie Fraser, global research and analytics manager at Schneider Electric. “With Russian exports likely to drop over the near-term, the OPEC+ cuts provide an improved path for the country to hold on to market share.”

Forex

Major currencies were weaker against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Euro fell from highs near US$0.9925 to lows near US$0.9790 and was near lows at the US close. The Aussie dollar fell from highs near US65.35 cents to lows near US63.90 cents and was near US64.10 cents at the US close. And the Japanese yen eased from near 144.50 yen per US dollar to JPY145.10 and was near the weakest levels at the US close.

European Markets

European sharemarkets eased on Thursday. Minutes from the September 7-8 meeting of the European Central Bank show that policymakers were worried that inflation could become entrenched at high levels, requiring more aggressive rate hikes. Also weighing on investor sentiment on Thursday was data showing the Euro zone retail sales fell 0.3% in August. But shares in Credit Suisse rose 2.6% after JPMorgan upgraded the Swiss bank’s stock to “neutral” from “underweight”. The continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index fell by 0.6%. The UK FTSE 100 index lost 0.8%.

Asian Markets

Earlier Thursday, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.4%, pulling back from Wednesday’s strong rebound. Property stocks were lower. Stocks in mainland China remained closed for National Day. The Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.7%, helped by gains in energy shares, despite uncertainties about the global economic outlook.