European stock markets are expected to rise after the Fed's Beige Book. The Eurostoxx 50 opens at 3,896.81 points (+1.72%), the CAC 40 at 6,624.91 points (+1.38%), the DAX 40 at 14.362.03 points (+1.47%), the FTSE 100 at 7,629.22 points (+0.37%), the SMI at 12,310.17 points (+0.23%), the AEX at 725.61 points (+1.26%), the BEL 20 at 4.257.66 points (+1.13%), the IBEX 35 at 8,769.50 points (+0.87%), the DJIA at 35,160.79 points (+0.71%), the Nasdaq at 13.453.07 points (-1.22%), the S&P 500 at 4,459.45 points (-0.06%) and the Nikkei 225 at 27,521.67 points (+1.12%).
On the currency front, the change from the New York close shows EUR/USD at 1.0832 (-0.23%), EUR/JPY at 139.12 (+0.22%) and USD/JPY at 128.44 (+0.43%).
European equity markets are expected to open higher on Thursday, but their advance is likely to remain moderate given a mixed session on Wall Street and in Asia. At around 7:30 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract was up 23 points, or 0.3%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The DAX 40 contract was up 67 points, or 0.5%, and the FTSE 100 contract was up 21 points, or 0.3%.
Wall Street closed mixed on Wednesday, buoyed by strong results from IBM and Procter & Gamble, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gaining 0.7 percent to 35,160.79 points. The broader S&P 500 Index gave up less than 0.1% to 4,459.45 points. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.2% to 13,453.07 points, as the strong disappointment of Netflix's results weighed on the technology segment. In Asia, markets presented a mixed picture on Thursday. The Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 1.2% at the end of the session. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng fell 1.1% in Hong Kong and the Shanghai Composite gave up 0.7%, penalized by the decline of their technology stocks after the underperformance of the Nasdaq the day before.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell the most in nearly three weeks on Wednesday as buyers returned to the government bond market. It continued its decline Thursday morning, settling at 2.878% from 2.916% Wednesday night. More generally, the markets have adjusted to the prospect of an interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The euro fell against the dollar but appreciated against the yen on Thursday. According to SPI Asset Management, the focus of the foreign exchange market is expected to be on Thursday's meeting between Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Currency coordination is expected to be on the agenda at this meeting.
According to Commonwealth Bank of Australia, pressure in Europe to impose official sanctions on Russian oil is intensifying, adding to the headwinds for prices, while the market continues to find support in the weekly 8 million barrel drop in U.S. crude supply. At 7:20 a.m., the June contract for North Sea Brent crude was up $1.27 at $108.07 a barrel, while the same maturity for Nymex-listed light sweet crude (WTI) was up $1.14 at $103.33 a barrel.