The dollar fell once morest major currencies and European stock markets rose on Thursday as lower inflation expectations in the United States bolstered investor confidence that price pressures would ease.
The yen hovered around the four-month high it hit once morest the dollar on Tuesday following the Bank of Japan reversed monetary policy, fueling bets that the most dovish central bank of 2022 will start scaling back measures. monetary stimulus.
Lower gasoline prices brought U.S. consumers’ 12-month inflation expectations down to 6.7% this month, the lowest since September 2021, data showed Wednesday.
Meanwhile, consumer confidence soared to its highest level since April, beating expectations of economists polled by Archyde.com and sparking a rally on Wall Street that supported European stocks beaten on Thursday.
Although the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 50 basis points in its seventh hike of the year in December, wealth managers expect the world’s most influential central bank to ease its position in a context of falling inflation.
“The view is that we are nearing the end of rate hikes and there may be a reversal,” said Anish Grewal of Enora Global in London. “The markets are too relaxed regarding this,” he said, but “we should get there around September of next year and be in rate cut mode.”
- The pan-European STOXX 600 stock index rose 0.3% and was on track for a weekly improvement of almost 2%, although it remains on track for a double-digit annual loss. S&P 500 and NASDAQ futures gained 0.2%.
* The Dollar Index, which compares the greenback to a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.4%, down nearly 2% for the month.
- The weaker dollar has helped gold, which is up 1.4% so far this week at $1,818 an ounce.
- Oil prices They followed data that showed a bigger than expected drop in crude oil inventories in the United States, as a major snowstorm is expected to blanket much of the country and hit fuel demand linked to trips.
