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Oil prices, global stocks turn down; European shares close up

European stocks closed on Thursday at an all-time high, boosted by strong financial stocks and the hope of a ceasefire in Ukraine. Global equities as well as major Wall Street indexes fell.

The oil price dropped after the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with U.S. president Donald Trump.

Gold prices, which are seen as a haven of safety in turbulent times, reached a new two-week record.

Wall Street fell following a report

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller

Trump's choice for the Federal Reserve chair was a top contender, and this raised concerns about the independence of the Federal Reserve.

The MSCI index of global stocks fell by 0.19 points, or 0.02% to 933.04.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.77% to 42,851.17. The S&P 500 fell 0.47% at 6,315.33 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.30% at 21,104.91.

" are persistent downside risks. Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said in a recent note that the number of negative surprises in official statistics is increasing. "Valuations also seem stretched. The forward price-to-earnings ratio is at its highest level in four years. "Trade uncertainty persists." The trade uncertainty persists."

Investors weighed mixed corporate results and U.S. Tariffs as they weighed up the European share market's biggest daily gain in more than two weeks.

The pan-European STOXX 600 closed at its highest level in a week. FTSEurofirst 300, the index for Europe, rose by 0.93%. The euro was also supported by the plans for a Trump-Putin meeting over the Ukraine war.

Emmanuel Cau of Barclays, head of European equity strategies, said that a ceasefire would be "an extra positive".

Four of the nine policymakers at the Bank of England, concerned about inflation, voted against a cut in interest rates.

The BoE may be ending its rate-cutting spree. The pound rose 0.47%, to $1.3416.

Dominic Bunning is the head of G10 FX Strategy at Nomura.

Japanese shares had earlier reached a record-high. MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific share index outside Japan closed at 1.03% while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.65%.

Taiwan's benchmark stock index jumped up to 2.6%, reaching a record high of more than a year. The shares of chipmaker TSMC, who announced this year additional investments in their U.S. manufacturing facilities, and is therefore expected to be relatively unaffected by the U.S. duty on imported chips, soared at a record high.

The U.S. Dollar gained 0.12% against foreign currencies, while the euro fell 0.21% to $1.1634.

The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10 year notes increased 1.4 basis points, to 4.246%.

Spot gold increased 0.68%, to $3,391.39 per ounce.

Brent crude futures fell 0.45% to $66.59 a barrel, while U.S. crude crude dropped 0.51% to $64.02.

(source: Reuters)