| schema:articleBody
| - European equities mostly climbed Thursday and oil prices neared $60 per barrel, boosted by US stimulus hopes, vaccine rollouts and upbeat news from Italy. Frankfurt stocks won 0.4 percent and Paris climbed 0.5 percent in afternoon trading, as investors shrugged off earlier losses in Asia. "European markets have continued to gain ground... with another positive start, as confidence returns after the turbulence of last week," commented CMC Markets UK analyst Michael Hewson. Milan rose by 0.7 percent after former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi got to work on trying to form a new Italian government to lift his country out of coronavirus-induced turmoil. "Draghi has been asked to form a government of national unity in Italy. He's a highly skilled operator, a consummate politician and we know he'll do 'whatever it takes' to steer Italy out of its worst economic and health crisis since the war," said Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson. However London stocks gave up their gains after the Bank of England held its key interest rate at a record-low 0.1 percent and stimulus levels steady, causing the pound to rise. The BoE also cut its 2021 gross domestic product growth forecast to 5.0 percent from 7.25 percent although Britain has moved faster than most countries in its vaccination campaign. The central bank also hinted at the possibility of negative interest rates later this year. "The British pound surged after the BOE eased concerns that they were closer to considering negative interest rates," said market analyst Edward Moya at online currency trading platform Oanda. "Hope for the best and prepare for the worst is what the BOE is telling the banks," he added. In commodities meanwhile, world oil prices continued to barrel their way closer to the key $60 dollar level, with economic recovery hopes boosted by vaccine rollouts. An upbeat global outlook pushed oil higher, with top producers sounding a note of optimism for demand this year as lockdowns are eased and activities slowly resume. After lockdowns began to spread towards the end of last year's first quarter, oil prices dropped off a cliff and even briefly turned negative. Prices then rebounded sharply however and this week attained levels last seen before the pandemic erupted, with Brent not too far from $60 per barrel. Meanwhile, US stocks moved higher at the start of trading, with the Dow adding 0.2 percent, as President Joe Biden continues to push forward on a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package. Data showed that first-time job claims for the week ending January 30 dipped from the previous week to 779,000. "The key takeaway from the report is that the level of initial claims improved; however, they didn't improve nearly enough to drown out calls highlighting the need for additional stimulus and extended jobless benefits," said analyst Patrick J. O'Hare at Briefing.com. London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 6,495.40 points Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.4 percent at 13,986.79 Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 5,588.08 Milan - FTSE MIB: UP 0.7 percent at 22,676.28 EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.4 percent at 3,624.32 New York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 30,785.64 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.1 percent at 28,341.95 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.7 percent at 29,113.50 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,501.86 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1988 from $1.2036 at 2200 GMT Dollar/yen: UP at 105.36 yen from 105.03 yen Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3668 from $1.3647 Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.71 pence from 88.19 pence West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $55.99 per barrel Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.4 percent at $58.68 per barrel burs-rl/wai
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)