7 things that changed for the stock market overnight - Gift Nifty to drop in US Treasury yields and oil prices

The Indian stock market indices are expected to open higher on Thursday following gains on global peers and amid a drop in crude oil prices.

Asian markets traded higher, while US stocks ended mostly in the green overnight as Treasury yields fell.

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The US Treasury yields retreated sharply since the benchmark 10-year Treasury note topped 5% in late October, as comments from US Federal Reserve officials and softer labor data led to growing expectations the central bank had reached the end of its rate-hike cycle.

On Wednesday, the domestic equity markets closed with nominal gains amid mixed global cues.

The Sensex ended 33.21 points, or 0.05%, higher at 64,975.61, while the Nifty 50 gained 36.80 points, or 0.19%, to settle at 19,443.50.

“After witnessing recovery in the last week, the market is now in a consolidation mode and we expect slow and steady upmove till the festivity,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Also Read: Buy or sell: Vaishali Parekh recommends three stocks to buy today — November 9

Here are key global market cues for Sensex today:

Asian Markets

Asian markets traded higher on Thursday following minor overnight gains on Wall Street and ahead of the inflation data from China.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.28% and the Topix traded flat. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.07%, while the Kosdaq fell 0.21%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were higher at 17,700 compared to its last close of 17,568.46.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.45%.

Gift Nifty was trading around 19,508 level as against Nifty futures’ previous close of 19,488, indicating a start for the Indian benchmark equity indices.

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Wall Street

US stock market indices ended mixed on Wednesday as investors weighed Federal Reserve officials’ recent comments for signals on interest rate trajectory and focused on the direction of Treasury yields.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 40.33 points, or 0.12%, to 34,112.27, snapping a seven-session winning streak. The S&P 500 rose 4.40 points, or 0.10%, to 4,382.78, while the Nasdaq Composite ended 10.56 points, or 0.08%, higher at 13,650.41.

Among stocks, Eli Lilly shares gained 3.2%, Warner Bros Discovery shares crashed 19%, while Take-Two Interactive Software jumped 5.2%. Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group plunged 8.1%.

Need to be flexible on forecast methods: Powell

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell did not comment on monetary policy in opening remarks at the US central bank statistics conference on Wednesday.

Powell said the central bank must be willing to think beyond the complex mathematical simulations it traditionally uses to forecast the economy. 

Read here: Fed economists need to be flexible on forecast methods, US economy prone to shocks: Jerome Powell

“Intellectual rigor has to be combined with flexibility and agility,” Powell said in opening remarks at a conference. He is scheduled to speak at another conference on Thursday.

Brent oil below $80

Crude oil prices held near its lowest in more than three months amid worries over signs of weakening demand and supplies remaining higher.

Brent crude declined 2.54% to $79.54 a barrel, settling below $80 for the first time since July. The US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.40% to $75.63 a barrel after losing almost 7% over the previous two sessions.

Read here: Oil drops to 3-month low as waning demand in US, China outweigh supply cuts; Brent crashes to $79/bbl

Mortgage rates falls

The average 30-year mortgage rate plunged last week by the most in more than a year. The contract rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage declined 25 basis points to 7.61% last week, the lowest level since the end of September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The group’s index of mortgage applications for home purchases increased 3% in the week ended November 3, the data showed.

Japan logs current account surplus

Japan logged its largest current account surplus in 18 months in September as the trade balance swung into the black, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said.

Japan's current account surplus stood at 2.72 trillion yen ($18.03 billion) in September, the MOF data showed, a little shy of economists' median forecast for a surplus of 3.0 trillion yen in a Reuters poll. It was the eighth straight month of surplus, the MOF data showed.

Disney Q4 profit beats estimates

Walt Disney’s fourth-quarter profit beat analysts’ expectations, while the company said it will cut an additional $2 billion in expenses. 

Fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of Walt Disney rose to 82 cents a share, excluding some items, beating the 69-cent average of analysts’ estimates by Bloomberg. The company’s revenue grew 5.4% to $21.2 billion, compared with estimates of $21.4 billion.

The added cost cutting will move Disney from “an era of fixing to an era of building,” Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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