(June 15): Asia stocks looked set for a steady start Tuesday after their U.S. peers closed at a record and a bond rally stalled ahead of a key Federal Reserve meeting.
U.S. futures were little changed at the open after gains in technology shares pushed the S&P 500 to an all-time high Monday. Still, three stocks fell for every one that rose. Futures in Japan advanced. Markets will reopen in Australia, Hong Kong and China after holidays. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.49% after hitting three-month lows on Thursday. The dollar was stable.
Bitcoin continued to gyrate amid a barrage of comments, climbing above US$41,000 only to pull back to around US$40,000. The digital currency got a boost after veteran hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones re-endorsed the coin in a television interview.
Investors are on the lookout for signals from the Fed about a timetable for scaling back emergency monetary stimulus. Expectations are that the central bank will reaffirm the pace of bond purchases this week, even if it delivers projections for interest-rate liftoff in 2023, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The decision is due Wednesday.
“We’re in a tug-of-war between the understanding that we’re having great economic growth and great earnings growth juxtaposed with the fact that we need to get our head wrapped around what inflation looks like and what it will mean both to profit margins and to the Fed,” said Art Hogan, chief strategist at National Securities.
Elsewhere, crude oil edged back above US$71 a barrel on optimism that economic reopenings will boost summer demand in the U.S. and Europe.
Here are some key events to watch this week:
An EU-U.S. summit takes place in Brussels on Tuesday
Data on U.S. industrial production, producer prices and retail sales come Tuesday
The Federal Open Market Committee rate decision comes on Wednesday, with a news conference from Jerome Powell after
U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin meet Wednesday in Geneva
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies before a House panel Thursday on the federal budget
Rate decisions come from Switzerland and Norway on Thursday
The Bank of Japan’s monetary policy decision is on Friday
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 7:31 a.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to a record high
Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.9% to a record high
Nikkei 225 futures
Currencies
The Japanese yen traded at 110.06 per dollar
The offshore yuan was at 6.4078 per dollar
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
The euro was little changed at US$1.2120
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 1.49%
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to US$71.12 a barrel
Gold was at US$1,866.88 an ounce-BLOOMBERG