All eyes on Vienna as oil drops; growth hits pound

Oil retreated from a five-week high as investor attention turned from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s somewhat dovish message to the gathering of major crude producers in Vienna. The pound fell after disappointing output data.

West Texas oil swung between gains and losses before sliding as Saudi Arabia signaled Thursday’s meeting won’t produce a deeper cut than expected, even as OPEC and its allies appeared poised to extend their deal to reduce output. Meanwhile, the dollar steadied in the wake of the Fed minutes, which cast some doubt over the trajectory of interest rate increases but confirmed the likelihood of a June hike.

Click here to follow the TOPLive blog on the OPEC meeting in Vienna.

The Fed language was enough to spur risk appetite, as policy makers indicated they wanted more evidence that recent weakness in economic growth is transitory before removing monetary stimulus further. That helped U.S. and global stocks to post yet more record highs. The bullish sentiment was limited among stock investors in Europe, where some markets were closed today for the Ascension holiday.

Here are key upcoming events:

• Britain’s political leaders will resume national campaigning on Friday for the June 8 election.
• South Africa releases its monetary policy decision later Thursday.

And here are the main movers:

Commodities

• Crude was trading 1.5 percent lower at $50.61 a barrel as of 6:30 a.m. in New York, after touching the highest level in more than a month.
• Gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,256.75 an ounce.

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 erased a decline to rise 0.1 percent.
• Futures on the S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent. The underlying gauge rose 0.3 percent Wednesday.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index edged higher by 0.1 percent after falling 0.3 percent on Wednesday.
• The euro erased a gain to trade little changed at $1.1217. The British pound fell 0.2 percent to $1.2955.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was little changed at 2.25 percent after losing three basis points on Wednesday.
• French and German 10-year yields fell three basis points.

Courtesy Bloomberg