Yahoo Finance Wall Street muted and FTSE lower ahead of interest rate calls
The FTSE 100 and European stocks were mixed on Monday as the Federal Reserve will announce its final rate decision of the year on Wednesday, with the Bank of England and European Central Bank following on Thursday.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) finished flat after trading in the red for most of the session, while the CAC 40 (^FCHI) in Paris rose 0.4% to 7,557 points. In Germany, the DAX (^GDAXI) bounced back and rose 0.2% to 16,803. The Stoxx 600 (STOXX) finished 0.3% higher
Across the pond, US stocks were mixed, signalling a weak start to a week packed with a crucial inflation update and the Federal Reserve's last policy decision of the year.
The Dow Jones (^DJI) opened flat but rose 0.3% to 36,269 points during trading. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was muted at 4,607 points - despite having reached a intraday record high - and the tech-heavy NASDAQ (^IXIC) slipped 0.3% to 14,355 points.
Investors are looking ahead to this week’s Federal Reserve meeting in the hope for signals as to when policymakers will begin cutting interest rates.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya at Swissquote Bank said: “The economic calendar for the week is heavy.
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“The US will announce its latest CPI update on Tuesday and the Fed will announce its latest policy verdict on Wednesday, then the Swiss National Bank (SNB), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) will give their last verdict for this year on Thursday."
“All four major central banks are expected to keep their interest rates steady at the current levels, but we will closely scrutinize how they address the rate cut expectations.”
“Chances are that the accompanying statements will attempt to cool down the doves.”
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In Asia, the Hang Seng (^HSI) in Hong Kong tumbled 1% to 16,178 while the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) rose 0.7% to 2,991 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) also finished in the green, rising 1.5% to 32,791 points.
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Japan’s stocks jumped on growing bets that its central bank might not hike interest rates next week.
Meanwhile, oil prices were volatile, trading on both sides of the line following Friday reports that the US government was buying up to 3 million barrels for the strategic petroleum reserve.
West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) slipped 0.7% and was trading at $71 per barrel. Brent (BZ=F) crude lost 0.6% to $75 per barrel.
Watch: Business Lookahead: Last central bank push of 2023
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