GLOBAL equity markets slipped on Thursday, while US Treasury yields dipped after reaching two-week highs after two hawkish Federal Reserve officials called for the US central bank to start ending its bond-buying program.
Ahead of a speech by Fed chair Jerome Powell, the Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan said he still believes that the Fed in September would announce a plan for tapering to start in October or shortly thereafter. Earlier, St Louis Fed President James Bullard said the Fed is “coalescing” around a plan to begin reducing its US$120 bil in monthly bond purchases.
Powell is due to speak on Friday at the Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole, Wyoming, policy symposium, held virtually due to the regional spread of the pandemic.
Minutes from the Fed’s July meeting released last week showed most policy makers expect the Fed to start tapering bond purchases this year, though consumer sentiment and economic data have weakened since that meeting.
Following Kaplan and Bullard’s comments, benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields reached their highest level since Aug 12 before retreating to 1.3491%% after US markets closed.
“You’re going to see continued commentary around deciding when to start tapering. I think they want to have that digested by the market so it’s not a surprise when it begins later this year,” said Jacob Asset Management chief investment officer Ryan Jacob.
The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 50 countries, was down 0.52%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.32%.
Overnight in Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.65%.
On Wall Street, all three major indexes closed lower, with stocks in consumer discretionary, technology, financials and consumer staples among the biggest losers.
“The market has been up five days in a row and so some of it is just people taking some chips of the table in the event there’s any surprises out of Jackson Hole,” said Jordan Kahn, chief investment officer of ACM Funds in Los Angeles.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.54% to 35,213.12, the S&P 500 lost 0.58% to 4,469.92 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.64% to 14,945.81.
The US dollar jumped from one-week lows after Kaplan and Bullard’s comments on bond tapering, pushing the greenback toward a key resistance level.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major trading currencies, was up 0.259%.
Gold prices stabilised after a sharp retreat on Thursday, taking a firmer dollar in stride as investors looked forward to Powell’s speech.
Spot gold rose 0.03% to US$1,791.1547 per ounce. US gold futures gained 0.15% to US$1,792.20.
Oil settled lower, snapping a three-day rally on renewed concerns over demand due to rising COVID-19 infections and as Mexico restored some output after an oil rig fire.
Brent crude settled down 1.6% at US$71.07 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate oil settled down 1.4% at 67.42 a barrel. – Aug 27, 2021
