World shares swing higher after wobbly day on Wall St
Fed Chair Powell signalled that the Fed is slightly more worried about the job market, raising expectations that the central bank will come through with another rate hike
World shares swing higher after wobbly day on Wall St
Shares swung higher in Europe and Asia, supported by buying of technology shares, as hopes for a US interest rate cut helped to offset worries over simmering trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. Gold rose to new highs, hitting $4,217 per ounce.
The precious metal has soared nearly 60 per cent in 2025 as investors seek a hedge against a long list of uncertainties, including higher tariffs and the economy.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signalled on Tuesday that the Fed is slightly more worried about the job market, raising expectations that the central bank will come through with another rate hike. “Rising downside risks to employment have shifted our assessment of the balance of risks,” he said at a meeting of the National Association of Business Economics in Philadelphia.
Traders took heart from his words, given the lack of fresh data due to the US government shutdown, “reading Powell like a haiku — every pause, every syllable weighed for hidden meaning,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
“The message, once decoded, was clear enough: two rate cuts aren’t just a possibility, they’re the main course,” he said.
The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.4 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3 per cent. Germany’s DAX edged 0.1 per cent higher to 24,251.39, while the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 2.3 per cent to 8,103.60. Britain’s FTSE 100 was nearly unchanged at 9,449.83.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.8 per cent to 47,672.67, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong surged 2.1 per cent to 25,973.55. The Shanghai Composite index gained 1.2 per cent to 3,912.21. In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 2.7 per cent to 3,657.28 as market heavyweight Samsung Electronics advanced 3.7 per cent.
