Stock markets surged on Wednesday, buoyed by robust US bank earnings and encouraging inflation data from the United States and Britain.Wall Street’s three main indexes jumped after US financial titans Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock and others posted stellar quarterly results.Shares in Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and BlackRock surged almost five percent, though JPMorgan saw a more modest gain of 0.5 percent.European stock markets closed firmly in the green in afternoon deals while Asia finished on a mixed note.US inflation rose for a third straight month in December, reaching 2.9 percent, in line with expectations from economists.But “core” inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, came in at a lower-than-expected 3.2 percent, a slight decline from the month before.”The key takeaway from the report for a market worried about inflation heating up again is that these results were better than feared,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading platform XTB, noted that the US Federal Reserve closely looks at core inflation to make decisions on interest rates.”The Fed could choose to look through price increases for volatile commodities that they cannot control. Instead, the Fed may focus on core inflation,” she said.Analysts have pared back their expectations on the number of Fed rate cuts for this year.They believe policymakers will hold borrowing costs steady at the next decision-making meeting later this month as inflation remains above its two-percent target.In Britain, official figures showed that inflation unexpectedly fell to 2.5 percent in December, easing some pressure on the Labour government as it struggles to grow the economy.The pound rose versus the dollar, with analysts forecasting that the Bank of England would likely cut its key interest rate next month as the rate of price increases cools.Separate official data showed Europe’s biggest economy Germany contracted for a second straight year in 2024, with little hope of a strong recovery ahead of national elections next month.- Nintendo jump -In Asia, Tokyo’s stock market ended down, though games giant Nintendo piled on more than two percent and briefly hit a record high as traders anticipated it would soon release its much-anticipated Switch 2 console. The Nikkei 225’s drop also came as the yen strengthened, with traders weighing the chances of a rate hike by the Bank of Japan this month.Also in focus this week is the release of Chinese 2024 growth data, with expectations that it could come in below the previous year and be among the slowest in more than three decades.Leaders have unveiled a string of measures to reignite the economy, with a particular emphasis on consumers and the troubled property sector. But there are fears the return of President-elect Donald Trump could see another painful China-US trade war.Trump has warned he will impose tariffs of as much as 60 percent on imports from China, and observers say Beijing has likely kept its stimulus powder dry as it prepares for the next four years.Oil prices rose two percent after the International Energy Agency said a colder winter has pushed global demand higher while new US sanctions on Russia and Iran could tighten supplies from those countries.- Key figures around 1630 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 1.4 percent at 43,114.54 pointsNew York – S&P: UP 1.5 percent at 5,931.28New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 2.0 percent at 19,425.31London – FTSE 100: UP 1.2 percent at 8,301.13 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 7,474.59 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.5 percent at 20,574.68 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 38,444.58 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 19,286.07 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,227.12 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0290 from $1.0310 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2239 from $1.2211Dollar/yen: DOWN at 156.63 yen from 157.98 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 84.09 pence from 84.40 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 2.0 at $81.49 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.4 percent at $78.21 per barrelburs-rl/sbk
Wed, 15 Jan 2025 16:58:28 GMT
