- Fed raises rates, Powell sounds dovish, market cheers; Wall Street futures with gains.
- More central bank decisions on Thursday.
- The dollar stabilizes, but confirms significant losses.
- Metals and cryptocurrencies at maximums in months, oil does not take off.
On Wednesday, the words of the Fed Chairman sent Wall Street down and pushed the dollar down. Futures point to more gains, dollar tries to stabilize and metals hold firm. More central bank decisions and impact data from the US are on the calendar. High expectations for corporate results.
The week continues to move, between banks, results and economic data
Asian stock markets rose modestly on Thursday, while in Europe there is greater euphoria, at least before the central banks. The FTSE 100 is up 0.70%, the DAX is up 1.53% and the CAC 40 is up 0.60%. The S&P 500 closed with a 1.05% gain on Wednesday, and in Thursday’s preview it is up 0.48%. Dow Jones futures are down 0.18% and Nasdaq futures are up more than 1%.
Results season has a stellar day on Thursday as they include big names like Manzana, Amazon, alphabet, Ford and ConocoPhillips. In the previous one, Meta Platforms (Facebook) rises almost 20%, after showing better-than-expected results with increased sales and users; Zuckerberg announced a $40 billion share buyback program. Google and Amazon climb almost 4% and Tesla 2.60%.
On Wednesday, the Federal ReserveAs expected, the reference interest rate was raised by 25 basis points. At the press conference, the words of the president, Jerome Powell, were taken as “dovish”, since he sounded optimistic about a soft landing, and expressed that a process of lowering inflation began. The Fed still has more planned hikes ahead, and has ruled out any cuts for this year for now.
In addition to a rise in stocks, the Fed sent metals and prices up sharply. Treasury bond. Part of that process was extended on Thursday. The 10-year bond yield fell to 3.40%, the lowest since January 20. European sovereign bonds fell, but to a lesser extent, which partly explains the strong rally in EUR/USD, which broke above 1.10 for the first time since April last year.
The dollar index (DXY) had its lowest close in ten months and hit fresh lows below 101.00 today, before bouncing slightly. The negative outlook remains for the moment for the dollar. The upcoming US data could generate more noise. On Thursday, the weekly report on unemployment benefit requests, factory orders and new figures for labor costs (which generated volatility days ago) will be released. On Friday it will be the turn of the official employment report with non-farm payrolls and the unemployment rate.
The weakness of dollar, coupled with lower yields and risk appetite, gave gold enough strength to soar and break above $1,950, hitting new month-highs at $1,959 on Thursday. Silver also benefited and is trading at $24.40, its highest in two weeks.
After the noise from the Fed, on Thursday it will be the turn of the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB). Both are expected to raise the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points. The divergence is that the ECB would provide a picture of more significant hikes ahead, while the BoE is unclear. In the previous the pound is falling in the market. The EUR/GBP is trading at monthly highs above 0.8900.
Cryptocurrencies were favored by the context and extended the rally. Bitcoin it reached highs since August above $24,000 and Ethereum approached $1,700.
Oil prices had no reaction and remain bearish. The barrel of WTI it is at $76.50, in the area of weekly minimums, after the rise in crude oil inventories in the US.
technical levels
Source: Fx Street
I am Joshua Winder, a senior-level journalist and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in covering news related to the stock market and economic trends. With more than 8 years of experience in this field, I have become an expert in financial reporting.
