Equities lose some steam while dollar falls and oil slips

Equities lose some steam while dollar falls and oil slips NEW YORK/LONDON, June 9 : MSCI's global equities gauge pared earlier gains on Tuesday as it saw little support from Wall Street where investors waited anxiously for inflation data while the dollar dipped with oil prices on hopes for easing Middle East tensions after Iran and Israel halted attacks on each other. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Tuesday that ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz - a key energy conduit - is rising "very meaningfully." But still, progress for a resolution of the Middle East conflict seemed uncertain with Israel striking the historic port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least eight people. Tehran had warned on Monday that it would resume hostilities if Israel continued to attack its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. U.S. Treasury yields edged lower as traders waited for May's consumer inflation report, due out on Wednesday, for signs of whether price pressures are continuing to build. The S&P 500's heavyweight technology sector could not hold earlier gains, putting pressure on the benchmark index and tech-heavy Nasdaq. Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera, pointed to anxiety ahead of the economic data as investors worry that elevated inflation would fuel worries about the Federal Reserve's next moves. "There is a lingering bit of caution as investors are a bit worried about tomorrow’s potentially high inflation readings. Higher-than-expected inflation further brings the Fed to the forefront as a headline risk," Goldman said. Since the release, on Friday, of a stronger than expected jobs report for May, traders have increased bets that the Fed's next move will be a rate increase rather than a cut, with the probability for a 25-basis point increase by December now at 43.4 per cent and bets on a 50-basis point increase at about 21 per cent, up from 12 per cent last week, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. On Wall Street, at 11:01 a.m. ET (1501 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 145.62 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 50,931.63, the S&P 500 fell 16.64 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 7,389.09 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 179.07 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 25,750.59. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe was up 3.23 points, or 0.29 per cent, at 1,104.19 after earlier rising more than 1 per cent. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.18 per cent after paring earlier gains. BORROWING COSTS In currencies, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.22 per cent to 99.82, with the euro up 0.23 per cent at $1.1561. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.04 per cent to 160.23. In government bonds, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 0.2 basis points to 4.548 per cent, from 4.55 per cent late on Monday while the 30-year bond yield rose 0.3 basis points to 5.0272 per cent. The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, fell 1.7 basis points to 4.141 per cent, from 4.158 per cent late on Monday. In energy markets, U.S. crude fell 3.94 per cent to $87.70 a barrel and Brent fell to $91.11 per barrel, down 3.33 per cent on the day.