Dow Jones holds below 18,500 on a quiet session ahead of Yellen

Equity prices are little changed on Wall Street during Thursday, hours ahead of Janet Yellen speech in Jackson Hole. Main stocks indexes are mixed in the US while European markets finished lower. In the UK, the FTSE 100 lost 0.28%, in Germany the Dax fell 0.89%, in France the CAC lost 0.67% while in Spain the Ibex 35 declined 0.65%.

Volatility remains lows across financial markets. Equities are marginally lower in the US. The Dow Jones has moved all day below the 18,500 level; it is losing 0.10% at 18,462 points. Earlier the futures of the index traded at 2-week lows. The S&P 500 is down 0.03% while the Nasdaq gains 0.4%.  Regarding bond yields, the US 10-year is up modestly currently at 1.567%.

In the forex market, the US dollar is rising modestly, supported by partially better-than-expected US economic data (a decline in jobless claims, upbeat durable goods order report partially offset by a lower reading in the service PMI) and comments from Fed’s officials.

Crude oil is up modest, currently hovering around $47.00 a barrel while gold is falling less than 1% but it reached earlier at $1318 the lowest level since July 27.