US stocks continue to rise for the fourth day… and the interest rate decision is tomorrow
US stock indices continued to rise for the fourth day in a row, one day before the Federal Reserve announced its decision regarding interest rates, with the S&P 500 index recording its highest levels in nearly two years, while investors looked forward to the words of Jerome Powell, the bank’s president, in the press conference on Monday. Wednesday.
By the end of Tuesday’s trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.48%, and the S&P 500 Index added 0.46% to its value, while the rise in the Nasdaq Index, which is most sensitive to monetary policy decisions, was 0.70%.
Today, Tuesday, the three major indices touched their highest levels in 52 weeks, as the S&P 500 index reached its highest level since January 2022, and the Nasdaq and Dow Jones indexes also recorded their highest levels since April and January of last year, respectively.
Before the official working hours of the US stock market, Labor Department data showed that the consumer price index rose by 3.1% in November on an annual basis, and by 0.1% on a monthly basis, almost as expected.
The data released helped maintain the strong tone in the stock market, coinciding with increasing expectations of the start of a new cycle of US interest rate cuts before the middle of next year.
In Europe, the benchmark stock indices in France and Germany briefly touched new record levels today, Tuesday, after consumer price data in the United States showed a lower rise than last month, which increased expectations that many major central banks would soon announce victory over inflation and end cycles of raising prices. Current interest.
But the STOXX 600 index of European stocks fell before the end of trading, ending the day with a loss of 0.2%, with the new data causing traders to withdraw their bets on the Federal Reserve reducing US interest rates during the first quarter of next year.
The French CAC 40 index fell 0.1% after rising by 0.4%, and recorded an all-time high of 7,582.47 points during the day.
The German DAX index rose 0.3%, touching a new record level at 16,837.18 points, before closing trading stable.
The market was also affected by the slowdown in British wage growth to the greatest extent in almost two years, although it is still rising very quickly, and in a way that may make it difficult for the Bank of England (the Central Bank) to ease its strict stance on lowering interest rates.
The shares of Carl Zeiss Optical Instruments jumped 6.5%, after the company announced an increase in its annual revenues and more optimistic expectations for the coming period.
Oil prices were not spared the effects of the US data, as prices fell by more than 3% upon settlement on Tuesday, with Brent crude recording its lowest levels since June, due to fears of a supply glut and motivated by US economic data.
Brent crude futures for February delivery fell by $2.79, or 3.7%, to $73.24 per barrel upon settlement, following an earlier drop to $73.56, the lowest level since June.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for January delivery also fell by $2.71, or 3.8%, to $68.61 per barrel.
US consumer price data has raised expectations of a slowdown in global oil demand growth in 2024, with OPEC and the International Energy Agency divided over the extent of this slowdown. OPEC and the International Energy Agency are scheduled to update their forecasts this week.
Matt Smith, an energy analyst, said: “Negative sentiment towards oil is still overwhelming at the present time.”
He added that weak demand and fears that the OPEC+ agreement to curb supplies will not do enough to balance the market are currently affecting prices. OPEC+ agreed to reduce supplies by 2.2 million barrels per day until the end of the first quarter of the new year.
2023-12-12 22:08:47
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