- US equity markets saw a choppy and indecisive start to the week against a backdrop of mostly negative updates from Russia and Ukraine.
- The S&P 500 is trading modestly higher as investors await Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments from 16:30 GMT.
- The index managed to reach its highest level since mid-February.
US stock markets saw a choppy and indecisive start to the week but, at the time of writing, have mostly been able to erase modest pre-market gains. Despite the flow of possibly negative news over the weekend, the lack of progress in the Russia-Ukraine peace talks, and talk of an EU embargo on Russian oil exports, the S&P 500 trades around a 0.1% higher at the 4,470 zone after a drop to 4,450. earlier in the session. The index managed to hit its highest level since mid-February at 4,480. The directionless trading immediately before Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments at 16:30 GMT isn’t too surprising: the Fed raised interest rates by 25bps from near zero for the first time in three years on Wednesday. past and new rate guidance suggested similarly sized increases at each remaining meeting this year.
Powell is unlikely to deviate from this script, meaning there are unlikely to be any significant business opportunities in response to his comments. However, Powell could give a few more details on things like the Fed’s ideas on how it might go about quantitative tightening, so it will be worth keeping an eye on. For the rest, this week a series of summits between European leaders are being held, with the US president also showing his face, which means that geopolitics and, more specifically, Western sanctions on Russia will be a key issue this week.
In terms of the other major US indices, the Nasdaq 100 is currently unchanged in the 14,400 area, after it was bought on the drop back to 14,250 earlier in the day. The Dow underperforms, as a result of the sharp drop in Boeing’s share price (-3.8%), which represents just under 4.0% of the index’s weight. This came after a 737-800 plane crashed in China. The index is currently trading around 0.5% lower, although it remains well supported above the 34,500 level for now. The S&P 500 volatility index or VIX last fell to its lowest level in more than a month at 2300, about half a point lower on the day.
Technical levels
Source: Fx Street
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