MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe closed down 0.49%, while on Wall Street, the DJIA dropped 1%, the S&P 500 shed 0.72% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.95%
The three major U.S. stock indexes dropped around 1% on Tuesday and the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries reached a four-month high after data showing strong labor demand raised the probability that the Fed could delay reducing interest rates.
The dollar also reached a four-month high against major trading currencies but later pulled back, as concerns of intervention by Japanese officials slowed the dollar’s gains against the yen.
Bitcoin also dropped, down 7.5% at one point, as risk assets took a beating on concerns that rate reductions may not come as soon as expected. The dollar index dropped 0.21%. Gold hit a new peak.
U.S. job openings rose 8,000 to 8.756 million on the last day of February, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Data for January in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, was revised lower to show 8.748 million unfilled positions.
We are back into a good news is bad news situation because recently the economic data that has been released, including today’s JOLTS report, have been reflective of a fairly robust economy, according to Russell Price, chief economist at Ameriprise Financial in Troy, Michigan.
He added: Combine that with we’ve seen inflation becoming sticky, it pushes back the prospect of Fed interest rate cuts.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe closed down 0.49%, while on Wall Street, the DJIA dropped 1%, the S&P 500 shed 0.72% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.95%.
Earlier in Europe, the pan-regional STOXX 600 index closed down 0.80% at a one-week trough after touching an all-time intraday high. Speculation about imminent interest rate reductions has convinced investors to buy in to risky assets in recent weeks.
