US Futures Hold as Markets Await US CPI Data – Europe Market Wrap

Thursday’s US equity-index futures remained unchanged as investors waited for inflation data to confirm that their bets on a reduction in Federal Reserve interest rates are justified.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts saw minimal movement following the underlying indexes’ more than 1% rise to new all-time highs, driven by companies such as Apple and Nvidia Fed Chair Powell stated before Congress on Wednesday that the labour market has “quite dramatically” cooled and that the central bank does not need inflation to be below 2% in order to lower interest rates.

Thursday’s core CPI measurement is predicted to increase by 0.2% in June for a second consecutive month. That would represent the lowest consecutive advances since August—a rate that Fed officials find tolerable. Two Fed cuts are priced into swaps in 2024, with a high probability that the first will occur in September.

Banks and utilities drove the 0.2% gain on Europe’s Stoxx 600 index.

After data revealed that the UK economy grew in May at double the predicted rate, the value of the pound against the US dollar reached its highest point since March.

For the second day in a row, oil prices rose as US crude inventories decreased, defying the IEA’s prediction that demand growth would stall. Gold increased for a third day in a row.

France must find €15 billion annually to meet EU fiscal demands – Sources