Wall St inches up while oil price dips 2pc – New York Report
THE AMERICAN equities joined the positive trend worldwide yesterday, with Wall Street reversing early losses and the dollar rising one percent against the Japanese yen, as diminishing global growth prospects bolstered hopes for central bank stimulus.
Crude oil prices fell nearly two per cent after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its 2015 global economic forecast on lower fuel demand and a key producer, Iran, hinted prices could drop to $25 a barrel, without support from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
US crude futures closed off 85 cents at $47.99 per barrel, keeping the commodity near its lowest level since 2009 after a fall of more than 55 percent since June.
The greenback strengthened on the IMF forecasts, which showed the United States on a faster growth trajectory than most other major economies worldwide.
The IMF cut its forecast for global growth in 2015 to 3.5 per cent from 3.8 per cent, and called on governments and central banks to pursue accommodative monetary policies and reforms.
Wall Street also gained on hope central banks would move to spur economic growth, after earlier being pulled lower by consumer discretionary and healthcare shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 3.66 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 17,515.23, the S&P 500 gained 3.13 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 2,022.55 and the Nasdaq Composite added 20.46 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 4,654.85.