📆 Friday, August 23
► European stocks move back near yesterday's highs with the French CAC_40 (+0.7%) outperforming. The broad Stoxx 600, Europe’s main equities benchmark, increasing by 0.2%. Traders braced for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium, with investors speculating to what extent Powell validates expectations for a September rate cut, and whether he offers any indication of a potential outsized rate cut (50-bp).
► US stock futures stabilized and trimmed sharp Thursday losses in early Friday pre-market trading. Investors remain cautiously optimistic according to our Chief Analyst, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures currently both up 0.35%. The focus remains on Powell's upcoming speech, which is expected to provide clues on the Fed's future rate policy. Meanwhile, the latest US data showed an only gradual cooling of the labor market (not a rapid one), mixed manufacturing activity, and a surprising increase in existing-home sales – the overall robust picture of the US economy remains intact. We also see that the yield on 10-year Treasury remained stable at ~3.84% (after a significant rise in US yields yesterday), while the USD weakened slightly again.
Subscribe to see more
