European shares and US stock futures turned higher on Tuesday, following two days of declines triggered by concerns about central banks raising interest rates aggressively to curb inflation.
The regional Stoxx 600 share gauge added 0.5 per cent in early dealings, while Germany’s Dax edged up 0.4 per cent. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 per cent, resuming trading after a holiday.
Those moves came after global equities weakened in the previous session, following last week’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where central bankers reaffirmed their commitment to tackling rapid price growth even as the prospect of tighter monetary policy threatens to induce a protracted slowdown.
In a hawkish speech on Friday, Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell said the US central bank “must keep at it until the job is done” on inflation.
Wall Street stock futures showed signs of stabilising on Tuesday, with contracts tracking the broad S&P 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 up 0.7 and 0.9 per cent respectively.
Expectations of persistently high interest rates weighed on Chinese equities earlier in the session, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index falling as much as 1.9 per cent before trimming its losses to trade down 0.4 per cent. The mainland CSI 300 index fell 1 per cent, later trading down 0.3 per cent. Japan’s Topix had a brighter day, up 1.2 per cent.
At last week’s meeting in Jackson Hole, Powell said successfully reducing inflation would probably result in lower economic growth for “a sustained period”.
Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said he was “happy” to see markets lose ground following Powell’s speech, because it indicated that investors had taken the Fed’s commitment to bring inflation back to 2 per cent seriously.
Government bond markets were relatively subdued during European morning trading on Tuesday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note slipping 0.03 percentage points lower to 3.08 per cent and the equivalent German yield trading flat. The policy-sensitive two-year US yield had on Monday hit its highest level since 2007, as the price of the debt instrument fell.
Meanwhile, the yield on the UK’s 10-year gilt added 0.09 percentage points on Tuesday to just under 2.7 per cent.
In currencies, the dollar slipped 0.3 per cent, having made gains since Powell’s comments in Wyoming.
Fresh economic data due in the coming days will be scrutinised by investors for further clues about the health of the global economy, and how far and fast central banks will move to raise interest rates.
Eurozone inflation figures for August will be released on Wednesday, with economists polled by Reuters expecting a year-on-year reading of 9 per cent, up from 8.9 per cent in July.
US jobs data due on Friday may offer insights into the level of heat in the labour market of the world’s biggest economy.
Oil prices were steadier on Tuesday after strong gains in the previous session, with international benchmark Brent crude down 0.3 per cent and US marker West Texas Intermediate up 0.3 per cent.
Additional reporting by William Langley in Hong Kong
