Stocks mixed after Wall Street edged up - 19.2.2025

The Dollar strengthening has halted today. 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 0.2% higher on Tuesday.

GBP/USD slowed advancing yesterday while EUR/USD accelerated its sliding despite considerable improvement in ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany in February. Both Pound and euro are little changed against the dollar currently. USD/JPY reversed its sliding while AUD/USD ended flat on Tuesday with both the yen and Australian dollar higher against the Greenback currently.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are up currently with the yield on benchmark 10-year US notes down at 4.478%. Stock indexes ended marginally higher on Tuesday recording daily gains in a narrow range of 0.02% to 0.24% after president Donald Trump said he intended to impose auto tariffs "in the neighborhood of 25%" and similar duties on semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports.

European stock indexes futures are mixed currently after closing mixed on Tuesday while defense stocks continued to gain on expectations of higher spending. Asian indexes futures are mixed today with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leading gains after President Xi Jinping met with key tech CEOs earlier this week.

Brent is extending gains currently. Prices rose yesterday as Russian Deputy Prime Minister said the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline, which moves crude from Kazakhstan to world markets, operates at output levels reduced by 30-40% on Tuesday after Ukrainian drone attack. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 1.6% and is higher currently. Brent gained 0.8% to $75.84 a barrel on Tuesday.