Macro Roundup (Oct 27)

SHANGHAI, Oct 27 —This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last night and what is expected today.

The euro rose back above parity against the dollar for the first time in a month on Wednesday after poor U.S. economic data reinforced speculation that the Federal Reserve will slow its interest rate hikes, sending the greenback tumbling.

The European common currency rose as high as$1.0048, the highest since Sept. 20, and was last up 0.5% at $1.0019.

Sterling rose to 0.79% to $1.1563, its highest since Sept. 14, extending the previous day’s 1.6% gain when markets took succour from Rishi Sunak becoming Britain’s prime minister, and the dollar also fell against the Japanese yen , sliding 0.83% to 146.715.

At 10:35 a.m. EDT (1435 GMT), the dollar was down 0.595% at 110.28 against a basket of six peer currencies.

The dollar’s softening came as the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield continued its descent from last week’s multi-year high of 4.338%, and was last down four basis points at 4.069%.

Fed officials have begun sounding out their desire to slow the pace of increases soon, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Friday that caused markets to reprice.

Stock futures rose in overnight trading Wednesday as investors seemed to brush off disappointing results from Meta Platforms.

Shares of the Facebook parent company plummeted 18% in extended trading on a weak fourth-quarter forecast. ServiceNow shares, meanwhile, surged more than 10% after an earnings beat.

Futures tied to the Nasdaq 100 traded 0.13% higher, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.21%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112 points, or 0.35%.

Stocks were mixed in Wednesday’s regular trading session as traders digested disappointing quarterly reports from Alphabet and Microsoft, and assessed what that means for future Federal Reserve rate hikes and economic growth.

Both the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 snapped three-day win streaks, closing 2.04% and 0.74% lower, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished marginally higher, gaining 2.37 points to 31,839.11 and capping off its fourth consecutive positive session since September.

Oil prices surged nearly 3% on Wednesday, bolstered by record U.S. crude exports and as the nation’s refiners operated at higher-than-usual levels for this time of year.

The dollar’s weakness added support, as the greenback’s strength of late has been a notable factor inhibiting oil market gains.

Brent crude futures settled up $2.17, or 2.3%, to $95.69 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $2.59, or 3%, to $87.91.

Gold prices rose to a two-week high on Wednesday as the dollar and U.S. bond yields slipped on expectations the Federal Reserve will temper its aggressive rate-hike stance starting December.

Spot gold rose 0.8% to $1,665.09 per ounce after touching its highest since Oct. 13.

U.S. gold futures settled up 0.7% to $1,669.20.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended up 0.7%, having bounced on either side of the flatline throughout the trading session. Mining stocks jumped 2.8% to lead gains, while food and beverages stocks fell 0.6%.