World markets overnight: Stocks stall as US Fed defers interest rate rise

Stocks on Wall Street rose then fell after the US Federal Reserve minutes for April showed interest rates weren’t likely to be raised by June.

Fed officials believe temporary factors are holding back the economy, though they are confident unemployment will keep falling and inflation will gradually start increasing.

The US dollar strengthened against the euro, while gold and oil rose.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 26.99 points, or 0.1%, down at 18,285.40 after reaching another all-time high on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 fell 1.98 points, or 0.1%, to 2125.85, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.71 points, or less than 0.1%, to 5071.74.

In corporate news, Target reported a better-then-expected 52% increase in first quarter sales.

International markets
Stocks in Europe were muted, with Germany’s DAX falling less than 0.1% while France’s CAC 40 added 0.3%.

In London, the FTSE 100 closed 0.38% higher at 6,995.10.

In Asia, Tokyo stocks finished at a 15-year high after data showed Japan’s economy grew at its fastest pace in a year during the first quarter.

Shares elsewhere in the region fluctuated modestly. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong and Australia’s S&P ASX 200 were roughly flat.

Commodities and currencies
Gold prices surged to $US1213.20 an ounce in electronic trading in the seconds following the publication of the minutes of the Fed’s meeting before falling back to $US1207.40 an ounce,

Floor trading ended half an hour before the minutes were released and July delivery settled 0.2% higher at $US1208.70.

Oil futures settled higher, with the US benchmark for July delivery at $US58.98 a barrel as the government reported a third straight weekly fall in crude supplies and tensions in the Middle East intensified. Brent crude rose $US1.01, or 1.6%, to $US65.03 a barrel.

The US dollar maintained its gains against the euro and yen after the Fed minutes ruled out an interest rate rise in June.

The dollar pushed the euro to a session low of $US1.1062, and the dollar to a session high of ¥121.57, its highest level against the yen in two months.