US market indexes opened higher for the day on Friday, following a speech the prior day from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen regarding the economy and interest rates.
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Analysts noted that this is higher than economists’ expectations of 3.7 percent, exerting additional pressure to gold as it dulled traders’ safe haven demand. If the Fed continues to raise rates slowly over time, as Yellen indicated, borrowing money will eventually become more expensive for individuals and businesses, he said.
Despite the risks higher interest rates pose to mortgage costs, property stocks led the gainers in Hong Kong with the benchmark Hang Seng Index closing up 0.43 per cent at 21,186.32 points.
Adding to the positive sentiment, data released yesterday showed the U.S. economy expanded more than previously estimated in the second quarter on stronger construction and consumer spending.
That message, along with Yellen’s contention that recent inflationary weakness is likely transitory, may come as a surprise to a few investors who took last week’s policy decision by the Fed as a sign that a USA policy tightening was no longer imminent and would likely come next year.
“The market is looking down the road at the other implications for what rising rates means in the U.S., ” Mortimer said, including their impact on the dollar and exports. The company named Matthias Mueller, the head of the group’s Porsche unit, to be the new CEO on Friday.
The ICE U.S. Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, rose 0.5% to 96.4670. And while she said she expects inflation to return to the Fed’s target of 2% annual growth, one chart illustrated the unpredictability of achieving that goal. The euro dropped to under 1.12 against the United States dollar, as the greenback climbed against most emerging currencies.
Following Abe’s comments, the Nikkei Stock Average reversed earlier losses to close up 1.76%. Silver edged lower, dropping 1.9 cents to $15.11 and copper fell 1.9 cents to $2.28 per pound.
“Although the U.S.is continuing to improve, outside the U.S.it’s just scary”.
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Crude oil prices rose on Friday and are in a position to post a weekly gain.
