S&P 500 futures erased earlier gains, and after rising as much as 0.3% when they traded at all time highs, Eminis were last seen down 4 points or 0.1% to 4,232, as European stocks also struggled to gain momentum on Wednesday despite reassurances from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that the Fed is not rushing to hike rates contrary to the market’s post-FOMC freakout last week. Treasuries fell, the dollar was flat and bitcoin soared after tumbling on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Powell sought to reassure investors on Tuesday, saying that the central bank will watch a broad set of job market data to assess the economic recovery from COVID-19, rather than rush to raise rates on the basis of fear of inflation. New York Fed President John Williams echoed Powell, saying that a discussion about raising interest rates is still “way off in the future.”
“The market’s still digesting the Fed news,” said Mo Kazmi, portfolio manager and macro strategist at UBP. “I think a lot of that move was exacerbated by stretched positioning and now what we’re seeing is perhaps reflation trades being put back on and the market normalising to some extent, realising that for now it’s just a subtle shift from the Fed.”
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