Key Events
Pinned Post
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has taken the ball from Donald Trump for the market and his comments look set to keep the risk-on rally running.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were broadly flat. S&P 500 futures were gaining 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures were rising less than 0.1%.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed at record highs after the Federal Open Market Committee opted for a quarter-point cut, as was widely expected by markets. Powell avoided any comment on policies proposed by President-elect Donald Trump apart from noting he wouldn’t resign if asked to.
“Powell avoided sending any signal about the December meeting, emphasising the data still to come before then. But relative to the previous meeting in September, the overall tone leaned slightly hawkish, as Powell mentioned how the recent data pointed to “diminishing downside risks” as “the economy remains strong,” wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Henry Allen in a research note.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note stood at 4.328% early on Friday, ticking down from the previous day. That looked to be part of a general pullback in trades related to Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election this week.
“The correction lower in yields now comes after a long run higher amid growing anticipation of a Trump win, but we are now moving from a phase of pricing in the promises to one of actual policy delivery and here, the outlines and actual timelines will have to become clearer in coming months before rates can move higher again,” wrote ING analyst Benjamin Schroeder in a research note.
