European, US Stock Futures Edge Higher Before Fed:
- Shares in Japan, Australia, China follow Wall Street gains
- Greenback trades flat after Tuesday decline against peers
European and US equity futures rose while a gauge of Asian stocks inched closer to a bull market as investors weighed a slowdown in inflation ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision.
Shares in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia held advances, nudging the MSCI Asia Pacific index toward a three-month high and a close of 19% above its October low.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose about 0.3% in Asia after the US benchmark closed off its intraday peak on Tuesday. Investors are awaiting more clues on the Fed’s interest-rate path from the decision later Wednesday and Chair Jerome Powell’s briefing.
The dollar traded little changed after losing ground to its Group-of-10 counterparts the previous session. The New Zealand dollar fell in a decline that accelerated after the government warned a recession was likely next year.
Treasuries added to their rally on Tuesday, when data showed Powell’s key measure of services prices excluding energy and rents moderated again in November. While price pressures appear to have peaked, headline CPI remains above 7%, suggesting the Fed has more work to do to rein in inflation.
Stocks
- Futures on the S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 6:42 a.m. London time. The S&P 500 gained 0.7%
- Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.3%. The Nasdaq 100 climbed 1.1%
- The Hang Seng Index rose 0.7%
- The Topix index climbed 0.6%
- The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.1%
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.1%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
- The euro was little changed at $1.0638
- The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 135.43 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9616 per dollar
- The British pound was little changed at $1.2371
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin was little changed at $17,768.28
- Ether was little changed at $1,319.38
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.48%
- Japan’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.25%
- Australia’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 3.36%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.4% to $75.11 a barrel
- Spot gold was little changed
Source : Bloomberg