Wall Street mixed, oil jumps as ECB cuts rates

LONDON/WASHINGTON : Major U.S. stock indices opened Thursday mixed following a European Central Bank rate cut, and oil prices surged over 1 per cent over concerns Hurricane Francine could weigh on U.S. output.
In early morning trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.45 per cent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.22 per cent, but the Nasdaq Composite was up slightly at 0.02 per cent.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe was up 0.48 per cent.
Earlier Thursday, the ECB announced its second rate cut of the current cycle, citing slowing inflation and economic growth. The cut was widely expected, and the central bank did not provide much clarity in terms of its future steps.
“Policymakers again pledged to follow a data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach to future rate decisions, while not pre-committing to any particular policy path. Inflation developments, particularly underlying price pressures, remain the key factor in determining the timing of the next rate cut,” said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.
The central bank’s second quarter-point rate cut of the cycle was widely expected, but how hard and fast it moves for the rest of the year still seems up in the air.
U.S. data on Wednesday meanwhile showed core consumer price index rose 0.28 per cent in August, compared with forecasts for a rise of 0.2 per cent. That was followed up Thursday with data showing U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in August, up 0.2 per cent compared to economist expectations of 0.1 per cent, although the trend still tracked with slowing inflation.
Analysts said the latest data still indicated the Federal Reserve is clear to pursue rate cuts starting with its Wednesday policy meeting.
“The inflation pipeline continues to clear, giving policy makers ample opportunity to shift focus away from inflation to other areas of the economy,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial
The dollar slid against other major currencies, as the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.21 per cent at 101.57, with the euro up 0.25 per cent at $1.1038.
OIL JUMPS
Oil prices were up about 1 per cent, extending a rebound as investors wondered how much U.S. output would be hindered by Hurricane Francine’s impact on the Gulf of Mexico.
U.S. crude gained 1.68 per cent to $68.44 a barrel and Brent rose to $71.7 per barrel, up 1.49 per cent on the day.
“Hurricane Francine has likely disrupted about 1.5 million barrels of U.S. oil production, which we estimate will reduce September production in the Gulf of Mexico by around 50,000 barrels per day (bpd),” UBS analysts said.
In bonds, 2-year Treasury yields edged up 0.2 basis point to 3.6475 per cent, while 10-year yields were at 3.663 per cent.
Industrial bellwether metal copper had its biggest daily gain since July thanks to a 1.16 per cent rally while gold surged 1.37 per cent to $2,545 an ounce.

(Additional reporting by Stella Qiu in Sydney; Editing by Alison Williams and David Evans)