Economy

7 Sept 2021

Global Stocks Record High as Investors count on Fed Generosity

The Index Today

Tuesday, global stocks were seen inched higher to a record high for the eight straight session as investors bet the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to delay the start of tapering its asset purchases after the soft U.S. jobs data.

Tokyo's Nikkei rallied as much as 1.3%, moving past the psychological barrier of 30,000 for the first time since April, also helped by a reshuffle in the Nikkei.
Mainland Chinese shares were little changed in early trade while MSCI's ex-Japan Asian-Pacific index was down 0.1%
The global stocks were measured by MSCI's gauge of 50 markets, tacked on 0.1% to log its eighth consecutive day of gains to record highs.

The latest rally, which started after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole Symposium late last month, received a further boost from a surprisingly soft U.S. payrolls report on Friday.
The U.S. economy created 235,000 jobs in August, the fewest in seven months as hiring in the leisure and hospitality sector stalled, reducing expectations of an early tapering by the Fed; and that was way below economists' forecasted data of 728,000.

Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities said, "It's the service sector that is losing steam and that clearly shows the impact of Delta variant. And the Fed has no reason to insist on tapering this year if the Delta variant is having an impact. After all its policy moves are contingent on job recovery."

Oil prices fell after Saudi Arabia's sharp cuts to crude contract prices for Asia revived concerns over the demand outlook.

U.S. crude futures dropped 0.6% to $68.90 per barrel.