Europe points to losses before Fed. Tech cheers Asia
You futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 are falling 0.5% this Wednesdayindicating greater caution among investors at the start of trading in Europe.
Today will be marked by yet another monetary policy decision by the Federal Reserve (Fed), which is expected to keep interest rates unchanged in the range between 5.25% and 5.5%. However, the market’s expectation is that it will be possible to obtain clues about the evolution of interest rates throughout this and next year.
“We don’t necessarily have to wait to reach the 2% target before we start easing monetary policy. We believe the first interest rate cut will be in June,” said Michael Buchanan, from Western Asset Management Company, speaking to Bloomberg. The analyst also anticipates a total of three interest rate cuts by the Fed this year.
It will be precisely the questions about the “timing” of the first cut that the market will seek to clarify. Furthermore, investors will also pay attention today to the words of Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, who is speaking in Frankfurt.
In Asia, trading was dominated by gains, with the semiconductor sector in the region tracking Nvidia’s performance on Wall Street. This despite the session being marked by lower trading volume due to the holiday in Japan.
In China, the Hang Seng, in Hong Kong, appreciated 0.34% and the Shanghai Composite added 0.55%, before the presentation of accounts by a series of companies. This is the case of the giant Tencent, which presents its 2023 results today and ended the day with gains of 1.75%.
Already the Kospi in South Korea gained 1.28%driven by Samsung, which rose close to 6%.
