The performance of American inflation higher than expected (+6.4% in January against expectations for 6.2%) and the comments of some Fed governors on the need to act further to bring it back into line weigh on the performance of the financial markets. Above all, the words of Lorie Logan (Fed Dallas) on the possibility that interest rate hikes “could last longer than anticipated” and Thomas Barkin (Fed Richmond) on the need to “do more”: indications that led Asian equities are trading lower, with the area basket at their lowest for the month, as are US futures. Two-year Treasury yields continued to trade at their highest levels since November, rising about 10 basis points yesterday.
Wall Street, future in ribasso
Wall Street futures are trading lower after yesterday’s mixed close. Data on US inflation show a slight slowdown on an annual basis, but an acceleration on the month which still leads us to think about an aggressive policy by the Fed.
The Dow Jones is down 0.37%, the Nasdaq is down 0.63% and the S&P 500 is down 0.47%.
Tokyo closes down 0.4%
The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed lower with investors cautious after the US inflation data in January. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.37% to 27,501.86 points, while the Topix dropped 0.27% to 1,987.74 points.
Inflation in Great Britain slows down, better than expected
The UK’s main consumer price index rose by 10.1% year on year in January and fell by 0.6% compared to December. The data is better than estimates of a 10.3% year-over-year increase and a 0.4% month-on-month decline versus earlier increases of 10.5% and 0.4%, respectively.