The ADP national employment report for February was released Wednesday and came in at up 214,000, which was slightly better than the consensus forecast of up 200,000 for the key non-farm payrolls component of the Labor Department’s employment report that is due out Friday morning.
The key “outside markets” on Wednesday saw crude oil prices slightly higher in afternoon dealings, with Nymex April futures hovering just below $35.00 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index was near steady. Crude oil’s daily price movements continue to have an influence on daily price action in world stock markets.
The Federal Reserve released the latest edition of its Beige Book Wednesday, citing mixed rates of economic activity in U.S. regions in January and February, as uncertainty roils markets around the world and concerns mount about slowing growth.
The Federal Reserve says the economy was expanding in most of the country in January and February, helped by gains in consumer spending and home sales. But there were also rising headwinds from falling oil prices and a strong dollar that held back some sectors.
However, Yellen later testified to Congress that the increases would be gradual, many analysts believe that the next rate hike, from a 0.50 rate to a 0.75 rate will occur much later in the year.
Traders are wagering that, at the earliest, the Fed may raise rates from 0.50 to 0.75 during the April Federal Open Market Committee meeting. According to the CMEGroup's Fedwatch tool, the current implied probability of a hike from 0.50 to 0.75 is at 22 percent at the April 2016 meeting.
West Texas Intermediate oil plunged in North America trade on Wednesday, after data showed that oil supplies in the U.S. rose sharply last week to hit another all-time high.
Crude oil for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange sank 62 cents, or 1.8% to trade at $33.78 a barrel 15:35GMT, or 10:35AM ET. Prices were at around $34.35 prior to the release of the inventory data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories soared by a whopping 10.4 million barrels in the week ended February 26.
Market analysts' expected a crude-stock rise of 3.6 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply gain of 9.9 million barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at an all-time high of 518.0 million barrels as of last week, underlining concerns over a domestic supply glut.
Reference: Kitco, Xinhua, Ibtimes, Investing
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