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Fed’s Brainard Calls for “Prudence” in Raising Interest Rates

Had she signaled a change of heart, it might have convinced investors that a hike was coming next week, especially after another dove, Boston Fed chief Eric Rosengren, said on Friday that there’s case for higher rates. Brainard did not comment on the specific timing of future rate policy changes but she held firm in arguing for caution in what could be the last word from a Fed policymaker before the central bank’s September 20-21 meeting. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 31.23 points, or 1.5 percent, to 2,159.04.

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Oil remains under pressure again today after IEA reported that oil demand growth will be lower than expected this year, leaving OECD inventories at record highs of 3.111 billion barrels.

There are no major economic data due Tuesday. A barrel of benchmark crude was down $1.10, or 2.4 percent at $45.20 while Brent crude, the worldwide standard, fell 93 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $47.42 a barrel. Some of the largest losses went to banks and phone companies. Brent crude, the benchmark for global oil prices, inched up 16 cents to $47.26 a barrel in London. The move comes a little more than a year after activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed that he bought a stake in Freeport-McMoRan.

Germany’s DAX gained 0.2 percent to 10,448.79 while the CAC 40 of France added 0.1 percent to 4,445.97.

“Until the Fed acts or doesn’t, the only way gold prices can make a big move is that physical gold buying or selling from or into the SPDR Gold [exchange-traded fund] takes place”, he said. Intersil climbed $1.99, or 10.1 percent, to $21.75.

The pan-European index rose as much as 0.6 per cent in morning deals as investors took some comfort from Ms Brainard, who said that the Fed should avoid removing support for the USA economy too quickly.

Asian stocks reversed gains amid the highest volatility in two months as investors assessed the outlook for United States monetary policy and crude oil retreated.

The U.S. dollar advanced against a basket of currencies, with the euro near $1.123 and the yen around 102.36. However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.3 percent to 23,215.76, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2 percent to 5,207.80.

In December 2015, the Fed raised rates for the first time in almost a decade, bringing the range for the federal funds rate to between 0.25 percent and 0.50 percent from a range of 0 percent to 0.25 percent previously.

Elsewhere Tuesday, Asian stock markets struggled from the previous day’s hammering, as traders shrugged off Brainard.

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U.S. Treasurys rose, with the two-year note yield near 0.77 percent and the 10-year note yield around 1.66 percent.

Global Stocks Dip as Fed View Only Partly Soothes Markets