SHANGHAI, Apr 24 - This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last Friday night and what is expected today.
The U.S. dollar slipped against most major currencies on Friday, as investors digested mounting evidence that growth in the world’s largest economy is slowing and priced in a likely pause in tightening by the Federal Reserve at the June meeting after a widely-expected interest rate hike next month.
The dollar fell 0.05% against the Japanese unit to 134.16 yen. The yen was one of the stronger performers after data showed Japanese consumer inflation held steady above the central bank’s target in March, putting pressure on the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to ditch its ultra-loose monetary policy stance.
In the case of the euro, a surprising recovery in the eurozone economy in April underpinned the currency.
But the story this week has been focused on the dollar as investors braced for the end of the Fed’s tightening cycle. Fed officials have been at pains to point out that inflation remains uncomfortably high and rates must keep rising.
Stock futures fell slightly on Sunday night as investors await a slew of corporate earnings from big tech companies, as well as fresh economic data releases.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 45 points, or 0.13%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.14% and 0.15%, respectively.
The major indices all closed Friday on a downturn for the week as the earnings season began to ramp up, with several prominent banking names posting their quarterly results for the first time since the bank failures in March. The Dow dropped 0.23% and ended a four-week upside streak. The Nasdaq declined 0.42%, while the S&P edged down 0.1%.
Investors are also keeping a close eye out on new economic data that will provide insight into whether inflation is cooling, or if the Federal Reserve will announce another rate hike at its next meeting in early May. GDP numbers for the first quarter, as well as April’s consumer sentiment data will be released among a flurry of other economic indicators.
Oil prices edged higher on Friday on strong economic data in the eurozone and Britain, but futures were on track for a weekly loss as interest rate uncertainty weighed.
Brent futures were up 68 cents, or 0.8%, at $81.77 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was up 65 cents, or 0.8%, at $78.02.
Both benchmarks had slid by more than 2% on Thursday, to their lowest since the unexpected announcement in early April of production cuts by some OPEC countries, on recession fears and swelling U.S. gasoline inventories.
Gold fell sharply on Friday and was headed for its worst week in eight as hawkish remarks by U.S. Federal Reserve officials through the week bolstered bets for at least one more interest rate hike and buoyed the dollar.
Spot gold dropped 1.4% to $1,976.27 per ounce by 12:18 p.m. ET. U.S. gold futures fell 1.5% to $1,987.10.
European stock markets fluctuated between slight gains and losses on Friday as investors reacted to corporate earnings and economic data.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.25% by the close, with most major bourses higher. Sectors were mixed with mining stocks down 3.7%. Healthcare stocks climbed 1.8%.
