Global Equities Inch Lower
On Tuesday, MSCI’s global index of equities dropped slightly, and U.S. Treasury yields edged up after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said more good data would bolster the case for rate cuts. He declined to give a clear timeline.
Powell’s statement before his appearance in Congress seemed to show increasing faith that inflation would move back down to the Fed’s target and indicated that risks to the economy if interest rates and the job market stayed too high for too long.
Although analysts didn’t expect big changes from Powell, the comments may have slightly disappointed people who hoped he would provide more clarity about how much more data the Fed required before having the confidence to reduce rates.
According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, traders are now pricing in a 71.8% chance that the first rate cut by the Fed would be made in September, slightly up from Monday’s 71%.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 42.10 points, or 0.23%, to 18,445.84, the S&P 500 gained 7.46 points, or 0.13%, to 5,580.31 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 115.76 points, or 0.29%, at 39,229.03.
MSCI’s index of global stocks dropped 0.36 points, or 0.04%, to 817.78 while the STOXX 600 pan-European index dropped 1.01%.