Wall Street shares opened mixed and the dollar steadied Wednesday as investors waited to hear the US Federal Reserve’s latest thinking on interest rates.
Meanwhile, shares in London were little changed after giving up earlier gains, with almost all European continental markets closed for the May Day holiday.
The Fed later Wednesday winds up a two-day regular policy meeting, with analysts agreed it will keep borrowing costs unchanged.
But investors will be closely listening to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s accompanying statements about whether cuts may begin any time soon.
“Inflation has surpassed expectations in recent months and throughout the first quarter,” said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at City Index.
“The market is now expecting a more hawkish-leaning FOMC meeting. But any inclination towards a rate cut before the end of the summer would now provide a dovish surprise.”
Tuesday saw a sharp sell-off on Wall Street after fresh US data, this time about wages, dealt another blow to hopes the Fed would reduce borrowing costs this year. Wednesday morning, a report on private sector hiring came in higher than expected.
They were the latest in a string of reports showing that the Fed’s higher rates have yet to cool the economy and bring inflation fully under control.
Wednesday the three major US indexes were narrowly mixed, with the Dow and the tech-heavy Naasdaq little changed and the wider S&P 500 down slightly.
Powell’s “main message is going to be that the Fed needs to see more data before it is comfortable with lessening its restrictive policy,” said Patrick O’Hare, an analyst at Briefing.com. “Translation: the Fed will keep rates higher for longer.”
Markets could see deeper losses should the Fed assert “a high probability of no cuts this year, or even the open possibility of another hike”, said Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda.
With most continental European stock markets shut for May Day, London was the only major European exchange open, and the benchmark FTSE 100 stocks index was flat in mid-afternoon trading.
Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline was up 2.3 percent after it announced progress in final trials of promising new drugs, even as profit fell 23 percent in the first quarter.
The dollar, which has gained in recent days against other currencies on interest rate differentials, was little changed Wednesday as many investors were either away for the May Day holidays or on hold ahead of the Fed’s announcements.
In commodities, oil prices slid on easing tensions in the Middle East as top US diplomat Antony Blinken on Tuesday urged Hamas to accept the latest truce proposals.
Elsewhere, bitcoin sank about five percent ahead of the Fed rate decision and following a mixed reception in Hong Kong to the launch of new investment products that track the world’s most popular cryptocurrency and its rival ether.
– Key figures around 1330 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP less than 0.1 percent at 37,832.69
New York – Dow: S&P 500 DOWN 0.2 percent at 5,027.29
New York – Naasdaq Composite: UP less than 0.1 percent at 15,667.99
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,128.74
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 1.0 percent at 7,984.93 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 1.0 percent at 17,932.17 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 1.2 percent at 4,921.22 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 38,274.05 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holiday
Shanghai – Composite: Closed for a holiday
Dollar/yen: UP at 157.87 yen from 157.80 yen on Tuesday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0677 from $1.0673
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2481 from $1.2493
Euro/pound: UP at 85.53 pence from 85.41 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.6 percent at $80.64 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.4 percent at $85.10 per barrel
gv/jj
