Stocks in all major exchanges in the United States of America opened lower on Thursday. In less than 24 hours, three major central banks decided not to change their interest rates. The U.S. Federal Reserve left federal fund rate at 0.25-0.50% range; the Bank of Japan stood by its negative key rate at 0.1%; the Bank of England once again kept its long-standing interest rate at 0.5%. U.S. jobless claim was up to 277,000 from the previous week's 264,000.
Stocks in all major exchanges in the United States of America opened lower on Thursday. In less than 24 hours, three major central banks decided not to change their interest rates. The U.S. Federal Reserve left federal fund rate at 0.25-0.50% range; the Bank of Japan stood by its negative key rate at 0.1%; the Bank of England once again kept its long-standing interest rate at 0.5%.
On the currency front, the Japanese yen surged up 1.73% against the U.S. dollar to ¥104.17 mark. The British pound sank 2.55% versus yen, and was 0.70% lower against the U.S. dollar. The euro slid 0.94% versus the greenback, and the Canadian dollar was also 0.88% lower against the U.S. counterpart, all at 3:31 p.m. CET.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened 0.29% lower at 17,602 points.
The S&P 500 was 0.39% lower on open at 2,066 points.
The Nasdaq 100 started 0.49% lower at 4,387 points.
The Nasdaq Composite was off 0.52% on open.
Oil prices hit three-week low with stronger U.S. crude stocks and the upcoming Brexit referendum, which slowed down demand. West Texas Intermediate was 0.83% lower at $47.61 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent dropped 0.98% to $48.71 a barrel at ICE Futures Europe at 3:20 p.m. CET.
Image: EPA / Justin Lane
