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Stocks without a clear direction as traders await US inflation data

Concerns about whether the Federal Reserve (Fed) had really finished its interest rate hiking cycle returned to markets to start the week. Traders are hoping to find clues about the Fed’s monetary policy direction in US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data due on Thursday. Stocks in Europe and the US finished the first trading session of the week lower on Monday while Asia equities were mixed on Tuesday.

Date
Author
Shane Strowmatt, LGT
Reading time
5 minutes

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Stock markets were back to normal hours in New York after the long Thanksgiving weekend. The major indices had a difficult time agreeing on a strong direction during Monday’s trading session and settled with minor losses. The Dow Jones Industrial the S&P 500 both finished the session down around 0.2% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 closed 0.1% lower.

For most of the month of November, trading has been calmer since market participants agreed on the narrative that the Fed had reached peak rates with stocks rallying. Yields on the ten-year Treasury have fallen considerably in recent weeks from more than 5% to around 4.39%. The VIX Index of implied volatility on the S&P 500 was trading near its lowest levels since pre-pandemic times in recent days. During the month of November so far, the Dow is up 6.9%, the S&P gained 8.5% and the indices on the Nasdaq shot up about 10%.

In the Asia-Pacific region, stock markets were mixed on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 lost 0.1%, while South Korea’s Kospi closed up more than 1%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index extended losses from the previous session and was trading down 0.6%. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.2%.

In geopolitical events, the truce between in the Israeli-Gaza war has moved into its fifth day and has been extended by at least two more days. The two sides of the war also completed a hostage and prisoner swap as previously agreed. Following the peaceful news out of the region, oil futures slipped with Brent trading around USD 80 a barrel and West Text Intermediate around USD 75 a barrel.

Corporate news in focus: Novartis Research and Development Day.

Economic data in focus: Germany’s GfK Consumer Climate (08:00 CET), Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index (16:00), Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index (16:00), European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde speaks at a European financial reporting conference in Brussels (17:00).

 

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Publisher: LGT Bank (Switzerland) Ltd., Glärnischstrasse 36, CH-8027 Zurich
Editor: Alessandro Fezzi
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