US Stock indices decline as third quarter opens up
US stock indices declined on Friday, the first session of the third quarter, after marking historic losses in the first six months of 2022.
The losses come amid concerns about US economic recession due to consecutive rate hikes as the Federal Reserve seeks to control runaway inflation.
Dow Jones declined 0.5% as of 14:17 GMT to 30,624, while S&P 500 shed 0.4% to 3,770, as NASDAQ fell 0.3% to 10,999.
Oil prices rise nearly 3% on global supply shortage concerns
Oil prices rose 3% in European trade after hovering near two-week highs for the last couple of days, now heading for the first weekly profit in a month.
Prices are also boosted by a drop in US crude stocks according the latest US official data, in a positive sign for demand in the US.
Global Prices
US crude rose 3% to $108.92 a barrel, while Brent climbed 2.8% to $112.32 a barrel.
US crude lost 3.3% on Thursday, while Brent shed 5.5%, the second loss in a row on active profit-taking off two-week highs.
Prices were pressured as the Ecuadorian government reached a deal with the rioting opposition to end two weeks of protests and resume oil production.,
Oil prices are up 0.75% so far this week on track for the first weekly profit in a month.
Global Supplies
Concerns about global supply shortages led to a surge in prices as several countries struggle to produce oil.
Libyan Output
Libyan authorities said they might close some oil exporting ports amid overwhelming conditions that are preventing proper operations.
Macron
French President Emanuel Macron told his US counterpart Joe Biden that the communicated with UAE government and Saudi governments, and both are at their upper limits of production.
US administration has been trying to pressure UAE and Saudi Arabia to increase output to offset some of the Russian shortages.
OPEC +
The OPEC + organization agreed to maintain current production plans unchanged, with goals of hiking production by 648 thousand bpd in July and August.
US Stocks
Official US data showed US commercial stocks fell by 2.8 million barrels on Wednesday in the week ending June 24, the second decrease in a row, while analysts expected a 0.9 million barrels drop.
Now total stocks are down to 415.5 million barrels, the lowest since the week ending May 17.
Dollar near two-week lows ahead of US industrial data
Dollar rose in European trade against a basket of major rivals, edging near two-week highs ahead of important US industrial data for June on US growth.
The Index
The dollar index rose over 0.4% to 105.21 from a session-low at 104.74.
The dollar closed yesterday down 0.4%, the first decline in three days on active profit-taking off two-week highs at 105.54.
Monthly Trading
The dollar is up 2.9% in June, heading for the fifth monthly profit in the last six months.
The Fed took a historic decision this month to hike rates by 0.75% to 1.75%, the highest hike since 1994.
The decision came on commitment to fight runaway inflation, which hit 1981 highs in May, in turn boosting dollar's standing.
Data
Now markets await US data on the ISM manufacturing PMI to measure economical growth in the second quarter, with the index expected down at 54.6 in June from 56.1 in May.