Markets venture higher after Wall Street ended mixed - 17.2.2025

The Dollar is little changed presently. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, ended 0.3% lower on Friday.

Both GBP/USD and EUR/USD slowed their advancing on Friday as statistics office Eurostat revised upward preliminary GDP reading for euro area to 0.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2024. Both euro and Pound are little changed against the Dollar currently. USD/JPY slowed its retreating and AUD/USD accelerated its advancing on Friday with both the yen and Australian dollar higher still against the Greenback currently.

US stock indexes futures are rising currently after ending mixed on Friday as data showed US retail sales fell by above expected 0.9% last month after an upwardly revised 0.7% increase in December. US markets will be closed today for the Presidents Day holiday. The three main US stock benchmarks recorded daily returns in the range from -0.37% to 0.41% on Friday.

European stock futures are higher currently after closing mixed on Friday as Goldman Sachs revised upward its outlook for European stocks on rising odds of peace in Ukraine. Asian stock indexes futures are mostly up today with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leading gains while Tencent Holdings shares surged over 6% after its Weixin app began testing DeepSeek integration.

Brent is sliding currently. Prices ended lower on Friday while JPMorgan said global oil demand has surged to 103.4 million barrels per day (bpd), up by 1.4 million bpd from the prior year. US West Texas Intermediate WTI lost 0.77% and is lower currently. Brent slid 0.37% to $74.74 a barrel on Friday.