(Updates to late morning U.S. trading)
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Wall Street stocks edge up, dollar down
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Rising Middle East tension dents sentiment, gold up
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Markets give lukewarm reception to U.S.-China truce
agreement
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Trump's latest tariff salvo unnerves investors
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Soft U.S. CPI sets stage for Fed meeting next week
By Lawrence Delevingne and Amanda Cooper
June 12 (Reuters) - The dollar hit a 2025 low on
Thursday but Wall Street stocks held near record highs as
traders weighed low inflation readings, rising Middle East
tensions, and the fragility of a trade truce between Washington
and Beijing.
Reports on U.S. consumer and producer inflation showed
overall price pressures remained contained in May, largely due
to declines in the cost of gasoline, cars and housing, or
services like airfares. But most economists expect inflation to
pick up as the impact of U.S. tariffs begins to bite.
The dollar, which has lost around 10% in value against a
basket of currencies this year, fell to its lowest since April
2022 in early trading.
Global stocks continued an almost-unbroken rally that has run
since early April, leaving the MSCI All-Country World index
up 0.3%, just below Wednesday's all-time high.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was
little changed, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq
Composite both gained about 0.3%.
Shares of planemaker Boeing lost about 5% after an Air
India aircraft carrying more than 200 people crashed in India's
western city of Ahmedabad, and aviation tracking site
Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.
Oracle shares rose 13% after the cloud service provider
raised its annual revenue growth forecast.
In Europe, the STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, led mostly by
airlines, given brewing tensions in the Middle East.
The U.S. administration on Wednesday said U.S. personnel were
being moved out of the Middle East due to heightened security
risks in the region, which briefly drove oil prices up by 4%
before they receded.
"(A flare-up in tensions) is a significant tail risk, but I
don't think it is anybody's baseline forecast. So it's something
to watch if there is a real escalation there, then markets will
take fright and that would have ramifications for the oil
price," Daiwa Capital economist Chris Scicluna said.
Iran said it will not abandon its right to uranium enrichment, a
senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday, adding that a
"friendly" regional country had alerted Tehran over a potential
military strike by Israel.
Classic safe-haven assets got a lift. The Swiss franc
and the Japanese yen strengthened, pushing the dollar
down by 0.9% against the franc and down 0.5% against the yen,
while gold rose about 1% to $3,384 an ounce.
The sense of relief stemming from a positive conclusion to
U.S.-China trade talks earlier this week, which President Donald
Trump said was a "great deal with China," evaporated by
Thursday.
RED, WHITE AND BLUE LETTERS
Adding yet another dose of uncertainty to the markets, Trump
said the U.S. would send out letters in one to two weeks
outlining the terms of trade deals to dozens of other countries,
which they could embrace or reject.
"Markets may have no choice but to respond to Trump's tariff
threat - even if it's just posturing to bring others to the
table. The gap between 'risk-on' positioning and real-world
risks has stretched too far," said Charu Chanana, chief
investment strategist at Saxo Bank.
Trump's erratic tariff policies have roiled global markets
this year, prompting hordes of investors to exit U.S. assets,
especially the dollar, as they worried about rising prices and
slowing economic growth.
The euro rose by as much as 1% to $1.16, its
highest since October 2021.
U.S. Treasuries also rallied in price, pushing
yields down 3.1 basis points to below 4.383%, while two-year
yields, which are more sensitive to inflation and
interest-rate expectations, eased 3.3 bps to 3.912%.
Wednesday's consumer inflation index kept alive the prospect
of the Federal Reserve cutting rates by a quarter point, but
only in September, as policymakers assess how tariffs work their
way through the real economy.
On Thursday, a report from the Labor Department showed that U.S.
producer prices, known as PPI, increased less than expected in
May, restrained by lower costs for services like air fares.
Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight
Asset Management in Charlotte, said the new inflation data this
week gives the Fed cover to wait for more information on how the
new tariffs and trade negotiations might impact price
stability.
"This gives the Fed room to sit on their hands," he wrote in
an email.
Oil, which has fallen by 20% in the last year, eased by
0.85% to $69.18 a barrel, but was still pinned near two-month
highs, adding another moving part to the outlook for interest
rates.