Markets kicking off with new year optimism in the green
U.S. futures rose Tuesday in a choppy session as investors assessed the impact of omicron on the outlook for 2022. Benchmark Treasury yields steadied after climbing across the curve. The yield on the 10-year note topped 1.60% in its worst start to a year since 2009 as investors braced for Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes in 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also closed at record levels even as trading volumes remained light. The S&P 500 rose 0.64%, Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.20% while the Dow Jones rose 0.68%. Focus would be on the FOMC meeting minutes scheduled for release Wednesday.
European stock markets are expected to open higher Tuesday, continuing the positive start to the new year on hopes of a steady economic recovery despite a surge in Covid-19 cases. European indexes posted strong gains on Monday, the first trading day of the new year, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index ending at a record close. This optimism exists despite the continued uncertainty around the Covid-19 pandemic, with many European countries, as well as the U.S., reporting record numbers of daily cases, prompting the reimposition of restrictions to stop the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant. German retail sales rose 0.6% on the month in November, a year-on-year fall of 2.9%, an unexpected improvement from the previous month. The country’s unemployment rate for December will be in the spotlight later in the session, along with preliminary French inflation figures for the same month and the U.K. manufacturing PMI release.
Stocks in Asia were mostly advanced with U.S and European futures, following another record high for the S&P 500. Japan and Australia led the regional gains in the Energy, Resources and Consumer Discretionary sectors, though shares in Hong Kong and China fell back after the PBOC withdrew net liquidity from the banking system. The yen slid against all its Group-of-10 peers and declined to as low as 115.82 against the dollar. USD/JPY was up 0.33% to 115.69, while EUR/JPY rose 0.24% to 130.55.
Ethiopia’s finance ministry proposed an additional 122 billion birr ($2.47 billion) budget to help counter the fallout of a civil war that’s destroyed infrastructure, displaced millions, eroded government revenue and deterred investment. The extra allocation for the financial year ending July 7, which will bring total spending for the year to 683.7 billion birr, will be used for national security, humanitarian assistance and rehabilitating infrastructure, the ministry said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
OPEC and its allies are on track to ratify another oil output revival of 400,000 barrels a day when they meet today, delegates said. The group’s analysts earlier cut estimates for a surplus in the first quarter by 25% to 1.4million barrels a day due to weaker output growth by its rivals. The alliance has already restarted about 2/3’s of the production halted in 2020. Investors also await U.S. crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute, due later in the day.