Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Thursday, March 2:
1. Snap to make long-awaited debut
Snap Inc 's (NYSE:SNAP) in-demand shares are set to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol 'SNAP' on Thursday morning after the owner of the popular Snapchat messaging app raised $3.4 billion in its initial public offering on Wednesday.
Snap priced 200 million shares at $17 each, above its expected range of $14 to $16 a share, valuing it at roughly $24 billion, more than double the size of rival Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and the richest valuation in a U.S. tech IPO since Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) five years ago.
Snap's IPO was oversubscribed by more than ten-times, indicating a hunger for the shares that might produce a pop on the first day of trading, as investors set aside concerns about its lack of profits and voting rights.
2. Dollar gains on more Fed hints of March rate hike
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.2% at 101.95 in New York morning trade. The index rose to an overnight high of 102.00, its strongest level since January 11.
Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Wednesday that an improving global economy and a solid U.S. recovery mean it will be "appropriate soon" for the U.S. central bank to raise interest rates.
Her comments added an important voice to the chorus of officials this week signaling rates may rise as soon as mid-March.
Futures traders are now pricing in around a 75% chance of a Fed hike in March, up from around 25% at the start of the week, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
3. Investors hit pause button on global stock market rally
U.S. stock market futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Thursday morning, one day after the Dow blasted through the 21,000-point mark for the first time.
In Europe, stocks edged lower in mid-morning trade, as investors took a breather after a strong rally in the prior session and focused on earnings and political instability.
Earlier, in Asia, markets ended mixed, with the Shanghai Composite in China closing down around 0.5%, while Japan's Nikkei jumped about 1% to a 14-month high, buoyed by a weaker yen.
4. Oil prices slump for third day in a row
Oil prices declined for the third day in a row on Thursday, as concern over record high U.S. crude inventories offset optimism that OPEC and its allies have been following through on their commitment to cut production.
U.S. crude was down 45 cents, or around 0.9%, to $53.38, while Brent lost 44 cents to $55.92 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that crude supplies rose by 1.5 million barrels last week to yet another all-time high of 520.2 million. It was the eighth straight weekly build in U.S. stockpiles, feeding concerns about a global glut.
5. Euro zone inflation reaches 4-year high
Consumer price inflation in the euro zone reached a four-year high in February, driven higher by another surge in energy prices.
Eurostat said consumer prices rose by 2.0% in February, up from 1.8% in the prior month, meeting the European Central Bank's medium-term target of below, but close to 2%.
But core inflation, which excludes volatile prices of energy and unprocessed food and at which the ECB looks in its policy decisions, was stable at 0.9% in February, suggesting no immediate change to the central bank's bond buying program.
The euro slipped about 0.2% against the dollar to 1.0532.