Global shares extended their recovery on Tuesday from four week lows, as investors focused on prospects for post-pandemic economic growth, rather than fret more over the hawkish stance taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve at a policy meeting last week.
European stocks looked set to build on gains in Asian markets as EuroSTOXX 50 futures rose 0.4% and FTSE futures were up 0.3%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.4%, moving above Monday’s four-week lows and notching a 4% gain so far this year.
Japanese shares led the way in Asia, with the Nikkei rallying 3.1%. South Korea stocks rose 0.7%, Australia put on 1.6% and Chinese stocks up 0.8%.
“Last week’s FOMC meeting was a hawkish surprise, but does not change our market outlook. The reflation trade experienced a sharp technically driven pullback, but we expect the trade to resume and see this move as an opportunity to add exposure to cyclical equities and commodities,” JPMorgan strategists said in a note.
Investors are keenly focused on the U.S. labour market as its performance is likely to have an influence on the Fed’s policy stance. In the immediate hours ahead, all eyes are on Fed chief Jerome Powell who appears before Congress from 1800 GMT.
The U.S. Federal Reserve sent global stock markets skidding last week by signalling it would raise interest rates at a faster pace than previously expected, and also flagged its intention to consider withdrawing its monetary stimulus moving forward. Most Fed officials moved their projections for the first rate increases from 2024 to 2023, though some saw rates moving higher next year.
The Fed’s pivot toward starting policy normalisation was driven by rapidly rising inflation, a dynamic that has kept financial markets on edge in the past few months.
Tuesday’s momentum in Asian equities was underpinned by a rally on Wall Street, with the Dow registering its strongest session in more than three months.
On Monday, Fed officials including as St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan toned down their hawkish rhetoric.
The FTSE MIB climbed down by 0.47% to 25,275.71. In the cash markets, the DAX futures Germany was trading down 0.26% to 15,558.17. CAC 40 futures in France fell by 0.11% to 7,079.60 while the FTSE 100 futures in the U.K. was up by 0.24% to 7,080.27 ,at the time of writing.
