Europe stocks fluctuate along with US futures; dollar drops

Bloomberg

European stocks fluctuated while Asian shares gained with US equity futures as investors countdown to more big earnings, a Federal Reserve policy decision and American economic data. The dollar fell for a third day and oil advanced.
Declines for healthcare and travel shares offset gains for oil companies and banks in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Barclays Plc jumped after the lender reported a surge in trading revenue. Nasdaq futures advanced after Alphabet Inc. posted better-than-estimated sales. That took some of the focus off Tuesday’s sell-off in megacap tech stocks including Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc.
Shares in Sydney outperformed, while they also rose in Seoul, despite a warning from Samsung Electronics Co. that profit may fall in the second quarter as the pandemic hits demand. Japan is shut for a holiday. Italian sovereign bonds slipped after Fitch Ratings downgraded the nation’s rating by a notch to BBB-, just one level above junk. Treasuries edged higher. The dollar slipped against most of its major peers.
Investors are in search of new catalysts to drive gains in global equities following the 27% surge from the late-March lows. With policy decisions from the Fed and from the European Central Bank, attention will be divided as earnings are still to come from some of world’s biggest companies, among them Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. At the same time, traders are monitoring coronavirus infection rates and the discussions under way on how to restart activity.
“We have some very extreme readings on the blow we’ve just suffered and markets are still bouncing around trying to get a reading on where we will be in the third and fourth quarter,” Christopher Smart, chief global strategist at Barings Investment Institute, said on Bloomberg TV. “That is very hard right now without knowing where the disease will be, and how quickly people will feel comfortable going back to work, going back to stores, between now and when there might be a vaccine.”
With earnings season in full swing, more companies are cutting jobs and throwing up their hands over future guidance.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.1% as of 8:23 am London time and the UK’s FTSE 100 Index advanced 0.2%. While futures on the S&P 500 Index climbed 0.7% and Nasdaq 100 Index futures jumped 1%, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index
increased 0.8%.
While Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index drops 0.3% to 1,247.92, the euro increased 0.4% to $1.086 and the British pound climbed 0.3% to $1.2468. The Japanese yen also strengthened 0.3% to 106.53 per dollar.
While West Texas Intermediate crude increased 14.3% to $14.11 a barrel, Brent crude advanced 4.7% to $21.42 a barrel and gold strengthened 0.1% to $1,708.72 an ounce.