Macro Roundup (Nov 28)

SHANGHAI, Nov 28 —This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last Friday night and what is expected today.

The dollar crept higher across the board on Friday in a quiet session following the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, but remained near multi-month lows as the prospect of the Federal Reserve moderating the pace of its policy tightening weighed on the U.S. currency.

The euro slipped 0.1% against the dollar to $1.04, but remained not far from the four-month high of $1.0481 touched in mid-November.

The dollar has rallied against every major currency this year, boosted by the Federal Reserve’s supersized interest rate hikes as it battles inflation. But recent cooler-than-expected U.S. consumer price data has spurred investor bets that the dollar’s rally may be done.

On November 30, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak at the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy on the outlook for the economy and the changing labor market.

Stock futures fell Sunday evening after Wall Street notched gains during the Thanksgiving holiday-shortened week.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 93 points, or 0.27%. S&P 500 futures were 0.38% lower and Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.44%.

The moves come after all three major indices ended last week higher, even with the shortened trading time due to the Thanksgiving holiday. The Dow rose 1.78%, and the S&P 500 increased 1.53% during the short week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is lagging the other two indexes but is still up 0.72% in the same timeframe.

Oil prices fell on Friday in thin market liquidity, closing a week marked by worries about Chinese demand and haggling over a Western price cap on Russian oil.

Brent crude futures dropped $1.37, or 1.61%, to trade at $83.97 a barrel, having retraced some earlier gains.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down $1.32, or 1.7%, at $76.62a barrel. There was no WTI settlement on Thursday due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and trading volumes remained low.

Gold prices traded flat on Friday as the U.S. dollar regained ground, after the non-yielding metal posted gains in the previous three sessions.

Spot gold traded flat at $1,754.76 per ounce, coming off a one-week high hit earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures rose 0.55% to $1,755.2.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 had slipped 0.25% in late afternoon trading, but pared losses to close flat. Sectors were a mixed bag, with mining and financial stocks shedding 0.6% and oil and gas adding 0.8%.