By Dion Rabouin and Herbert Lash
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil rose for a seventh straight session on Friday on a declining U.S. rig count and stronger demand data from China, while U.S. equities mostly rebounded to end a volatile week on an up-beat, helped by a double-digit jump in Nike shares.
The dollar recovered slightly but hawkish signals this week from the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Bank of Canada led the greenback to post its biggest quarterly decline against a basket of currencies in nearly seven years.
Among other contrasts, the euro rose 7 percent in its best quarter since 2010, while the benchmark S&P 500 and Dow industrial indices marked their best first half of the year since 2013 and gold notched its first monthly loss this year.
Oil rose after energy services company Baker Hughes [RIG/U] said U.S. drillers cut their rig count for the first time since January, while Chinese factories boosted output at their fastest pace in three months.
The strong data from China “certainly gives you hope that demand is growing globally,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
U.S. crude futures Both benchmarks ended the first half with declines of more than 14 percent, the largest drop since Brent and U.S. crude fell about 19 percent in the first half of 1998.
Crude had slumped to a 10-month low last week as rising output revived concerns about global oil glut.
Rising expectations for tighter monetary policy from major central banks and skepticism the Federal Reserve would be able to raise interest rates again this year has weakened the dollar’s appeal. The dollar index was last up 0.03 percent at 95.653, while the euro was down 0.17 percent against the dollar at $1.1421.
The euro touched its strongest in nearly 14 months on Thursday, at $1.1445, while the dollar index touched a roughly nine-month low of 95.470 early Friday.
Nike shares Nike shares were the biggest boost to both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> closed up 62.6 points, or 0.29 percent, to 21,349.63 and the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 3.71 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,423.41. The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 3.93 points, or 0.06 percent, to 6,140.42. The three indices fell for the week, but rose for the month and second quarter. The S&P 500 rose 8.3 percent for the first half, the Dow 8 percent and the Nasdaq 14 percent, its biggest first-half gain since 2009. In Europe, shares closed lower and ended June with their biggest monthly loss in a year as worries over tighter monetary conditions soured the mood.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> of leading shares lost 0.44 percent while MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 0.01 percent, lifted by Wall Street.
U.S. Treasury yields rose after inflation data was not seen as weak enough to delay the Fed’s expected path on rate hikes.
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index fell 0.1 percent in May from the prior month, and when food and energy were excluded, was up 0.1 percent.
Benchmark 10-year notes (Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Chizu Nomiyama)
