MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.40% to 806.95
Global stocks rose while U.S. Treasury yields dropped on Tuesday as markets weighed data showing a persistently tight labour market, and prospects of interest rate cuts after comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
The Fed needs more data before reducing rates to ensure recent weaker inflation figures properly reflect underlying price pressures, Powell told a conference in Portugal on Tuesday.
The Labor Department reported on Tuesday that job openings, a measure of labour demand, rose by 221,000 to 8.140 million on the last day of May, the lowest level since February 2021 and marginally ahead of Wall Street expectations.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes dropped 4.9 bps to 4.43%.
Listening to some of his comments, it seems he is laying the groundwork for cuts maybe in September, that is where the market thinks they are going to start, said James St. Aubin, chief investment officer at Sierra Mutual Funds in Santa Monica, California.
We saw a little bit of an increase in job openings, so that seems to suggest that the labour market is hanging in there. Bond yields were down, I think partly because of what Powell was talking about, you know seeming more of a dovish tone, he said.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.40% to 806.95. In Europe, the STOXX 600 index dropped 0.42% as the relief rally in French shares following the first round of parliamentary elections faded.
On Wall Street, all major indexes closed higher after a choppy session with gains in consumer discretionary, financials, communication services and consumer staples stocks, while healthcare and energy equities were the biggest drags.
The DJIA gained 0.41% to 39,331.85, the S&P 500 added 0.62% at 5,509.01 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.84% to 18,028.76.
