US indices closed mixed on Thursday. Shares in the Automobiles & Components (-1.68%), Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (-0.87%) and Materials (-0.79%) sectors closed on a negative note while shares in the Technology Hardware & Equipment (+0.7%), Banks (+0.68%) and Insurance (+0.42%) sectors gained traction. On the economic data front, import price index increased by 0.6% MoM in February (estimated 0.3%) from an improvement of 0.1% in January. New home sales declined to 607k in January (forecasted 622k) compared to 652k a month earlier. In other news, initial jobless claims slightly advanced to 229k in week ended March 9th (expected 225k) from 223k in the previous week while continuing claims increased to 1.776M in week ended March 2nd (estimated 1.763M) compared to 1.758M in the prior week. Finally, the Bloomberg consumer comfort index decreased to 60.8 in week ended March 10th vs. 62.1 a week earlier.
The S&P 500 (2,808.48) stays above its 20d moving average (2,783.20 – positive slope) and 50d moving average (2,698.83 – positive slope).
European markets are expected to start-open on a positive-negative-flat note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Foreign Exchange<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The US dollar was bullish against all of its major pairs on Thursday. On the economic data front, import price index increased by 0.6% MoM in February (estimated 0.3%) from an improvement of 0.1% in January. New home sales declined to 607k in January (forecasted 622k) compared to 652k a month earlier. In other news, initial jobless claims slightly advanced to 229k in week ended March 9th (expected 225k) from 223k in the previous week while continuing claims increased to 1.776M in week ended March 2nd (estimated 1.763M) compared to 1.758M in the prior week. Finally, the Bloomberg consumer comfort index decreased to 60.8 in week ended March 10th vs. 62.1 a week earlier.
The Euro was bullish against all of its major pairs with the exception of the CHF and the USD. German CPI was up by 0.4% in February in final estimation, vs +0.5% in first one and after a 0.8% decline a month earlier. YoY CPI was up by 1.5% vs +1.4% in January and +1.6% expected.
The Australian dollar was lower against all of its major pairs except for the GBP, the JPY and the NZD.
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