Asian stocks fell today, Thursday, while the dollar approached its highest levels in three weeks as traders reduced bets on the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates early and sharply this year, as the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s meeting, issued yesterday evening, provided only scant information about... Timing of the start of the US interest rate cut.
The Morgan Stanley Index of Asian stocks other than Japan fell by 0.17%, and is on track to record losses for the third day in a row in light of a violent start to the year. Japan's Nikkei index also fell by 0.5% on its first trading day of the new year.
In Europe, stock futures opened with mixed movements. The Euro Stoxx 50 fell by 0.04%, while German DAX futures fell by 0.07%, while FTSE futures rose by 0.08%.
The minutes of the Federal Reserve's December meeting, released yesterday, showed growing expectations among policymakers that inflation is under control and raised concerns about the risks of excessive monetary policy tightening on the economy.
Markets are currently anticipating 70% for the Fed to cut interest rates in March, compared to 90% last week, according to the CME FeedWatch tool.
Investors also slightly lowered their expectations for the current year, as futures contracts indicate a rate cut of less than 150 basis points, compared to 160 basis points last week.
