Investors are now debating when the Fed is likely to start trimming its monthly bond purchases, while the Bank of Japan announced it will unveil a new tool to support efforts to address climate change.
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The Fed held its benchmark short-term interest rate and said it will continue to buy $80 billion in Treasury securities and $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month. Policymakers now see the first rate increase coming in 2023 instead of 2024.
Yesterday, the prevailing mood in the financial markets was calm before the end of Federal Reserve's meeting. Investors expect the central bank to keep the pace of asset purchases unchanged until at least August or September.
Investors traded with optimism as they awaited for clues from the Fed about the tapering of asset purchases.
In the last session of last week, European shares and the S&P 500 scaled new peaks while yields on U.S., Japanese and euro area government debt fell as investors embraced the easy monetary policies of major central banks.
In yesterday's session, investors traded cautiously ahead of today's U.S. CPI data for May (Bloomberg consensus expects +4.7% yoy) and the ECB monetary policy meeting (the focus will be on the updated macro projections and on the pace of net asset purchases under the PEPP, which will probably remain unchanged at 80bn per month).
In yesterday's session investors traded cautiously following the release of better-than-expected Q1 GDP growth data for the euro area (revised up by 0.3 p.p. to -0,3%) and record high job opening figures for the U.S. (up by almost 1 million to 9.3 million in April).
In the first session of the week, investors extended the positive tone seen during last Friday. In the euro area, economic data releases came in better than expected (EZ Sentix Investor Confidence rose in June to 28.0 from 21.0 and Spain's industrial production rose by 1.2% mom in April).
In the last session of the week, investors traded with a positive mood amid robust employment data in the U.S. Non-farm payrolls rose by +559k in May (consensus expected +675k on average) and the unemployment rate dropped by 0.3 p. p. to 5.8%.
Wall Street's main indexes closed little changed as investors weighed inflation concerns and a fresh surge in so-called "meme stocks" : AMC jumped 97.44%. European equities closed at another record high amid hopes of a strong economic rebound that boosted cyclical stocks.
Wall Street's main indexes ended little changed, with gains in energy and financial shares countering declines in healthcare.
European equities dropped as investors looked for the next catalysts to give the market direction. In Spain, shares of utility companies dropped over a draft bill the government is preparing that could drive down electricity prices.
European stocks and bond yields fell yesterday as Italy, France, Germany and Spain suspend vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine over worries about the jabs' side-effects. Meanwhile, Italy has taken more stringent lockdown measures. The Eurostoxx50 was down by 0.1%.
In yesterday's session, volatility declined, US stock indices rose led by gains in the tech sector and euro area equities were mixed.
In the last session of the week, investors traded cautiously as they continued to weigh accelerating economic growth and inflation expectations for the US. In this context, the S&P 500 ticked down, the Nasdaq rose and euro area indices declined following previous' day losses in the US.
European equities performed well on Thursday after the Federal Reserve raised its growth forecast for the US, and the Eurostoxx50 rose 0.5%. Banks and automakers led the gains, as they are favored by rising market interest rates.
During yesterday's meeting, the Federal Reserve sharply upgraded its forecasts for growth in the U.S. and signalled that interest rates would remain unchanged until at least 2024 and that it would continue to buy bonds at a pace of $120 billion per month until it made "substantial further progress" towards its goals.
Markets traded in a risk-on mood as investors signaled greater optimism about the economic recovery and lower concerns over inflation risks in yesterday's session. Volatility declined, stocks rose across advanced and emerging economies and tech-equities resumed their rally. Commodity prices also gained amid greater risk appetite.
Stocks rose across the board as Biden's $1.9tn fiscal package won final approval in the U.S. Congress and CPI data calmed inflation worries. In particular, U.S. CPI inflation rose to 1.7% yoy in February but core inflation nudged down to 1.3% (see our take and why we expect inflation to be under the spotlight in the coming months here).
In yesterday's session investors traded with a less optimistic tone amid rising global COVID-19 cases and new lockdown measures in Germany. Additionally, Fed President Jerome Powell played down concerns of an overheating US economy as he said that the increase in inflation "will be neither particularly large nor persistent".