US stocks are trying to recover in the new year (Reuters)
US stocks ended trading on a higher note on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 170 points, while investors looked forward to the latest data on inflation in the world’s largest economy, before the start of the season of announcing US corporate profits in the fourth quarter of last year.
During Wednesday’s trading, the rising points in the most famous index in the world represented 0.45% of its value at the beginning of the day, and the S&P 500 index rose by 0.57%, while the rise in the Nasdaq index reached 0.75%.
Today’s transactions were relatively calm, similar to the calm before the storms that may come with any new statements from Federal Reserve officials regarding the bank’s directions regarding monetary policy during the coming period.
Philippe Colmar, global managing and strategic partner at MRB Partners, said in an interview on the CNBC economic network: “We are in this calm before implementation,” noting that market activity is somewhat weak, after the markets took into account, during The last days of the ending year, expectations of a rate cut early this year.
“Right now, the market is very calm, but I don’t think it will be calm all year,” Colmar said. “We’ve priced in this whole soft landing scenario. What’s next? It’s likely to be ‘no landing,’ which means bond yields probably won’t stay as steady as they are, and volatility has already returned to the stock market.”
US stocks and inflation
Investors are awaiting the Consumer Price Index report for the last months of 2023, which is scheduled to be released on Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect the CPI to rise by 3.2% year-on-year. The producer price index will also be released on Friday.
Investors will look in the two reports for clues about when the Federal Reserve might start cutting interest rates.
“The market is seeing a tug of war against those who see slower economic growth, but the economy remains resilient,” Quincy Crosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial, said in a note.
In Europe, European stocks ended trading lower on Wednesday, with mining and travel company stocks leading the losses, as optimism about imminent interest rate cuts continued to decline.
The STOXX 600 index of European stocks closed down by 0.2%, with the travel and entertainment sector leading the sectoral losses, falling by 1.1%, and the basic resources index also fell by 1.1%, on the third consecutive day of losses.
Oil prices fell by about a dollar today, Wednesday, at settlement, after a sudden jump in US crude inventories raised concerns about demand in the largest oil market.
Brent crude futures fell 79 cents, equivalent to 1%, to $76.80 per barrel upon settlement. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 87 cents, equivalent to 1.2%, to $71.37 per barrel.
Oil prices rose more than 1% early in the session, but fell after the US Energy Information Administration announced a surprise increase in crude oil inventories, and larger-than-expected jumps in gasoline and distillate storage.
2024-01-10 23:42:22
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