Equities surge, euro lower following ECB press conference

Thursday brought bullish reversal on the European and the US equity markets. Stocks from the Old Continent were trading higher throughout the session with biggest gains seen on French and Italian bourses. On the other hand, shares in Eastern Europe, especially Poland and Russia, moved lower.

Nasdaq is the outperformer on Wall Street today. The index was boosted by stellar earnings reports submitted by Twitter and Tesla. S&P 500 and Dow Jones are lagging the tech index but are also subject to significant gains.

The European Central Bank did not shock markets today. As expected the Bank left rates unchanged and reiterated its previous message. The euro was subject to some hectic moves during the press conference but ultimately is trading lower, especially against the US dollar. Japanese yen and British pound were among the worst performing currencies today with the latter one still being pressured by Brexit. On the other hand, Scandinavian currencies are leaders in the G10 basket today despite their respective central banks staying on hold this week.

Majority of industrial metals and agricultural commodities are trading lower today. What is interesting is the fact the precious metals are trading broadly higher despite clear risk-on mode on the markets. Apart from that, both grades of oil are subject to noticeable gains today, just like natural gas.