MILANO – Cautious reopening for Western markets, following the minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting earlier this month. From the documents it emerged that the American governors believe a 0.50% rate hike in the next two directives is appropriate. One way, the Bloomberg law, to ensure greater flexibility in the second half of the year and possibly downshift if the economy asks. A “hawkish flavor” that however “does not impress the markets”, commented Unicredit analysts in the morning note, according to which the Fed could take a break from squeezing once their monetary policy has returned to neutrality ( that is, it does not push prices up or down), or in a range of rates between 2 and 3%.
Today there is expectation for the weekly unemployment benefits and for the GDP of the first quarter.
The Cac index of Paris registers a + 0.07% at 6,303.34 points, the Dax 30’s Frankfurt increased by 0.28% to 14,047.73 points and the FTSE 100 by London travels on parity at 7,522 points. TO Piazza Affari the Ftse Mib starts with + 0.14% at 24,284.2 points.
In the morning, Asian markets went alternating with operators underlining the warning from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the need for the country’s economy to return to normal after the Covid period. TO Hong Kong the Hang Seng index marks -0.60%. Good Shanghai with + 0.63% and Shenzhen with + 0.90%. Tokyo has already closed trading, weak at -0.27%. “Economic indicators in China have declined significantly and the difficulties in some aspects and to some extent are greater than when the epidemic hit us severely in 2020,” Li said Wednesday in an emergency meeting with representatives of local governments, state corporations and financial corporations. He also urged officials to work to reduce unemployment. However, the premier admitted that the country is in trouble and may not be able to achieve positive growth in the second quarter. The last time China’s growth went into negative territory was when GDP plummeted 6.9% annually in the first quarter of 2020 as a result of the pandemic, which disrupted 30 years of uninterrupted growth.
On the currency front, with the ECB engaged in the difficult balance between hawks and doves on its path of monetary normalization, theeuro it is little moved at the start of the day: it is traded at 1.0677 dollars (-0.04%) and at 135.87 yen (-0.07%).
Finally, among the raw materials, the prices of Petroleum Asian markets continued higher, extending this week’s cautious rally on signs of supply shortages as the European Union talks with Hungary over plans to ban imports from Russia. WTI futures rose 0.76% to $ 111.17 a barrel. Brent futures are up 0.65% to $ 114.77.