Global stocks trade higher ahead of US data
Investors hope that Federal Reserve may not hike interest rate; Wall Street futures were higher after the US govt cuts its estimate on economic growth for Q2
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Beijing Global stock markets were mostly higher Thursday ahead of updates on United States inflation and hiring that traders hope will persuade the Federal Reserve no more interest rate hikes are needed. London, Tokyo and Paris advanced. Shanghai declined. Oil prices rose. Wall Street futures were higher after the US government cut its estimate of economic growth for the second quarter to a still-robust level.
The US government was due to issue an inflation update on Thursday in a report on personal consumption and expenditures, the measure of prices most closely watched by the Fed. It eased to three per cent in July from last year’s peak of seven per cent. Monthly employment data for August are due out Friday following reports this week that hiring is cooling. The latest data “bolster the case for no change in rates” at the Fed’s September meeting, said Rubeela Farooqi of High-Frequency Economics in a report.
In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London gained less than 0.1 per cent to 7,475.07. The CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.2 per cent to 7,378.61 and the DAX in Frankfurt advanced 0.6 per cent to 15,984.44. On Wall Street, the future for the benchmark S and P 500 index was up less than 0.1 per cent. That for the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3 per cent. On Wednesday, the S and P 500 advanced 0.4 per cent after the US government cut its quarterly growth estimate for an annual rate of 2.1 per cent from 2.4 per cent. That still is up from 2 per cent during the first quarter. The S&P-500 is off this year’s peak in July but up 17.6 per cent for the first eight months of 2023.
