US Futures Rise With Fed in Focus – Europe Market Wrap
US stock futures jumped as tech firms rallied, as investors awaited trading cues in a busy week with policy meetings from the Federal Reserve and Japan.
Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 climbed following reports that Apple is in talks to integrate Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence engine into the iPhone. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, rose about 4% in premarket trade, while chipmaker Nvidia and Tesla gained more than 2% each. European stocks remained largely unchanged.
The Bank of Japan is expected to abandon its negative-rate policy at its meeting on Tuesday, while the UK’s policy decision and inflation statistics are coming later this week. The main focus is on Wednesday, when Fed policymakers convene for a meeting that has the ability to set the tone for global stocks for the coming quarter.
While Fed Chairman Jerome Powell stated that the central bank was close to having the confidence to cut, bond markets appear to have painfully accepted a higher-for-longer reality. On Monday, the 10-year Treasury yield remained near a three-week high after rising by more than 20 basis points last week. The dollar index remained stable.
In commodities, oil rose to a new four-month high, following the greatest weekly gain in a month, as Chinese macroeconomic data beat forecasts and Ukrainian strikes on Russian facilities heightened geopolitical threats.
