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Oil touches a six-week high on Middle Eastern tension
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Policy meetings in the U.S., U.K. and New Zealand awaited
Shares in Europe held Tuesday’s gains and the dollar fell as traders await the Federal Reserve’s first policy decision since Jerome Powell took the helm. Treasuries rose and oil touched a six-week high.
Media and energy shares were the biggest winners in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, following a mixed performance in Asian equities. The dollar fell against most major currencies, with an index tracking its value against trading partners dropping the most in more than a week. Oil advanced on tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. European bonds were stable and the pound advanced ahead of a Bank of England meeting. Treasuries climbed with gold.
Here’s what you should be watching in Wednesday’s Fed decision
Investor focus will today turn to Jerome Powell’s first Federal Open Market Committee meeting as chairman, with close scrutiny of whether monetary policy might become more hawkish under his tenure. Shares in technology-related firms remain on the back foot due to the spillover from the crisis engulfing Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerbergwill address employees of the social network on Friday.
Terminal users can read more in our markets blog.
Here are some key events on the schedule this week:
- The Fed decision and Jerome Powell’s news conference come on Wednesday.
- The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates and its asset-purchase program unchanged on Thursday. Attention will be on language and the odds for a May hike.
- New Zealand has a monetary policy decision Thursday.
- Company earnings scheduled for this week include Tencent, Hermes, PetroChina and Nike.
And these are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed as of 8:11 a.m. London time.
- The MSCI All-Country World Index advanced less than 0.05 percent.
- Futures on the S&P 500 Index gained less than 0.05 percent.
- The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index decreased less than 0.05 percent.
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.3 percent, the largest decrease in more than two weeks.
- The euro jumped 0.3 percent to $1.2279.
- The Japanese yen climbed 0.2 percent to 106.31 per dollar.
- South Africa’s rand gained 0.1 percent to 11.9528 per dollar.
- The British pound advanced 0.2 percent to $1.4024, the strongest in more than a month.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased one basis point to 2.88 percent, the first retreat in a week.
- Germany’s 10-year yield fell less than one basis point to 0.58 percent.
- Britain’s 10-year yield declined less than one basis point to 1.482 percent.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 0.2 percent to $63.66 a barrel, the highest in more than three weeks.
- Gold increased 0.4 percent to $1,316.95 an ounce, the highest in a week on the biggest climb in more than two weeks.
- LME copper fell 0.3 percent to $6,732.50 per metric ton, hitting the lowest in 14 weeks with its fifth consecutive decline.
By Adam Haigh and Eddie Van Der Walt
March 21, 2018, 7:12 PM GMT+11
Source: Bloomberg