2/2 © Reuters. A man wearing a protective mask, amid the pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), walks past a screen showing the Shanghai Composite Index, the Nikkei Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average outside of a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, February 14, 2022. REUTERS / Quim
2/2
By Carolyn Cohn and Stella Qiu
LONDON / BEIJING (Reuters) – Global equities hit their first weekly earnings in eight weeks on Friday with a more optimistic earnings outlook, while the dollar hit a one-month low after Federal Reserve minutes suggest that it could slow down rapid rate hikes. after this year.
The optimistic U.S. earnings outlook overnight from department store operator Macy’s Inc (NYSE 🙂 and discount chains Dollar General Corp (NYSE 🙂 and Dollar Tree (NASDAQ 🙂 propelled stocks.
The minutes of the May meeting of the Fed released on Wednesday confirmed two rises of more than 50 basis points each in June and July, but policymakers also suggested the possibility of a break at the end of the year.
“Everything has flowed from the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC),” said Giles Coghlan, chief currency analyst at HYCM.
“Investors were relieved that there was no indication of 75 basis points.”
Coghlan added that markets would focus on the April core PCE price index for the United States which will be presented later Friday to get more signals on whether inflation was warming up.
The MSCI Global Equity Index rose 0.38%. It was heading for a 3.2% increase during the week and a recovery of almost 6% from the 18-month lows set two weeks ago.
they were flat after the 1.61% rise, the 1.99% rise and the 2.68% rise on Thursday.
European stocks reached a 10-day high and rose 0.18%. decreased by 0.23%, from the three-week highs of the previous day.
Hong Kong equities rose 2.7% after better-than-expected first-quarter revenue growth from Alibaba (NYSE 🙂 and Baidu (NASDAQ :). Asian actions also benefited from hopes of stabilizing Sino-US ties and further stimulus from the Chinese government.
The United States would not stop China from growing its economy, but wanted it to adhere to international standards, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday in a statement that some investors interpreted as positive for bilateral ties. .
they rose 0.7%, mainland China’s chips rose 0.2%, and Australia’s heavy-resource index rose 1.1%.
The change in sentiment brought the dollar to a one-month low against a foreign exchange index, 3.2% below the 20-year highs reached earlier this month. The euro reached a one-month high of 0.11%.
The price of oil remained close to the two-month highs, with its biggest weekly jump in 1-1 / 2 months, supported by the prospect of an EU ban on Russian oil and the upcoming driving season. summer in the United States.
it rose 0.08% to $ 114.20 a barrel. Brent gained 0.28% to $ 117.73 a barrel. [O/R]
The benchmark yield fell to 2.7468%. It had reached a three-year high of 3.2030% earlier this month for fear that the Fed’s rapid rises could undermine long-term growth.
The two-year yield, which is rising with traders ’expectations of rising Fed fund rates, softened to 2.4678% compared to a close of 2.4888%.
“Overall, a pronounced decompression of stress,” ING analysts said in a note.
10-year German bond yields fell to 0.982%.
rose 0.43% to $ 1,857.79 per ounce. [GOL/]