Stocks mostly up as markets digest Fed rate signals
US and European stock markets mostly rose on Thursday as investors digested US economic data and Federal Reserve signals that it will maintain its agressive monetary-tightening policy to combat inflation. European equities closed higher after seesawing earlier in the day. Wall Street indices were mixed, with the Dow Jones flat near midday while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were up after closing lower on Wednesday. Major Asian markets finished the day in the red. "Closely watched minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting show US central bank policymakers are set to stay firmly on the path of rate rises," noted Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. While policymakers said they would eventually have to start tempering their tightening pace, they said they would keep borrowing costs elevated "for some time", though admitted there was a risk of going too far and damaging the economy. But Craig Erlam, analyst at OANDA trading platform, said Wednesday's minutes could also indicate that the Fed "is aware of the risks and may therefore ease off the break as soon as the opportunity arises in order to avoid tightening too much". "It also raises the possibility of a swift U-turn from hiking rates to cutting them as markets have indicated recently and policymakers have pushed back against," he said. "Needless to say, there are many more twists and turns to come." US markets were also reacting to US industry data showing that existing home sales fell sharply in July, the sixth consecutive monthly decline as borrowing costs rise. Other data in focus were better-than-expected initial jobless claims and manufacturing activity in the very industrialised Philadelphia area, which was back in the green in August after two straight months of contraction. Oil prices, meanwhile, rallied by more than 2.5 percent after data showed US crude inventories dropped last week due to strong domestic demand and higher exports. Elsewhere, Norway's central bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point to 1.75 percent, and flagged another hike in September. Turkey's central bank, meanwhile, stunned the markets by lowering its main interest rate even as inflation soared to a 24-year high – the opposite approach of other countries facing rising prices. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan subscribes to the unorthodox belief that high interest rates cause inflation rather than rein it in. (AFP)