A gauge of global equity markets fell modestly and the euro strengthened yesterday after the European Central Bank reaffirmed its commitment to run its bond-buying program as long as needed, but did not confirm a specific extension of the plan.
However, with eurozone inflation still way below target and the ECB also trimming its 2017 growth forecast, Mr Draghi said the bank was looking at options to enable it to pursue the money-printing program.
After a mixed bag of data over the past month, including poor German industrial orders this week, many investors had speculated the ECB might push ahead early with yet more stimulus moves.
After ECB chief, Mario Draghi, said the bank had not even discussed an extension of quantitative easing, the euro gained ground, hitting a two-week high of $1.1326. The dollar touched a low of 94.465 against a basket of major currencies and was last off 0.16 per cent at 94.805.
European shares were lower, with the FTSEurofirst 300 off 0.3 per cent.
A 2.2 per cent decline in shares of Apple weighed on each of the three major US stock indexes in the wake of its annual event on Wednesday. The company also said it would not release details on first-weekend sales of the newly announced iPhone 7.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 29.76 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 18,496.38, the S&P 500 lost 2.74 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 2,183.42 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 19.09 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 5,264.84.
MSCI’s all-country world index dipped 0.12 per cent after touching a 13-month high in the prior session.
German government bond yields extended earlier gains, up 5.3 basis points on the day at minus 0.07 per cent after hitting a high of minus 0.061 per cent. US Treasury yields also rose, with benchmark 10-year Treasury notes down 14/32 in price to yield 1.587 per cent, from 1.539 per cent late on Wednesday.
Oil shares surged after US Energy Information Administration data showed a much bigger-than-expected draw in inventories.
Brent crude was up 3.6 per cent at $49.69, after hitting a peak of $49.87, its highest since August 26.
US crude was last up 3.7 per cent at $47.19 after hitting a one-week high of $47.43.