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Dollar rises after jobs data; banks lead stocks higher

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Reuters NEW YORK

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks across the globe were little changed after touching a record high while the dollar turned higher against a basket of peers after U.S. job openings jumped to a record high in June.

The job market data underscored the view that the Federal Reserve has ammunition to continue on its tighter monetary policy path. A strong jobs report last Friday gave the dollar index its strongest daily performance this year.

The job openings data "was much stronger than expected. This reinforces the strong non-farm (payrolls) data from last Friday, and turned the dollar higher significantly," said Minh Trang, senior currency trader at Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California.

 

The dollar index rose 0.37 percent, with the euro down 0.47 percent to $1.1737.

The Japanese yen weakened 0.03 percent versus the greenback at 110.79 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.296, down 0.55 percent on the day.

The view that the Fed could continue raising rates translated into a move higher in financial shares on Wall Street. Banks usually see better returns as the yield curve steepens, which it did marginally after the job openings data.

"The strength of the job market is certainly one of the two things the Fed is looking at, and the jobs data would be the primary reason for the move higher in financials," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC.

The data "is raising the likelihood for further rate increases."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 42.27 points, or 0.19 percent, to 22,160.69, the S&P 500 gained 5.77 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,486.68 and the Nasdaq Composite added 20.11 points, or 0.32 percent, to 6,403.88.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.19 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.08 percent.

Emerging market stocks rose 0.38 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.16 percent higher, while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.30 percent.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields were near their session high after spiking higher following the jobs data. Trading was light overall as the market gets into the thick of summer, with Japan, whose central bank is the largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries, closed next week for holidays.

Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 9/32 in price to yield 2.2887 percent, from 2.257 percent late on Monday.

The 30-year bond last fell 24/32 in price to yield 2.8728 percent, from 2.837 percent late on Monday.

Oil prices were volatile on increasing exports from key OPEC producers and news of lower crude shipments from Saudi Arabia.

U.S. crude rose 0.2 percent to $49.49 per barrel and Brent was last at $52.47, up 0.19 percent on the day.

Gold prices erased earlier gains after the jobs data lifted the dollar.

Spot gold dropped 0.3 percent to $1,253.36 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.47 percent to $1,258.80 an ounce.

Copper rose 0.78 percent to $6,464.00 a tonne.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed)

Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content

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First Published: Aug 08 2017 | 9:16 PM IST

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