Global stocks hover around record; bond yields decline

Bloomberg

Markets settled into a holding pattern on Wednesday, with global stocks hovering around all-time highs as investors awaited details of the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting. Bond yields fall.
Futures on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 edged higher after the underlying gauges retreated overnight as volume on US exchanges dwindled below 10 billion shares for the first time this year. The 10-year Treasury yield dropped, while the dollar halted a four-day slide. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was little changed. Amundi SA gained more than 3% after agreeing to buy
Societe Generale SA’s fund management arm Lyxor.
Expectations for continued central-bank support and the strongest world expansion in at least four decades have driven stock benchmarks to unprecedented heights. Concerns about higher borrowing costs destabilising the market have eased, with bond yields subsiding as traders pull their more-aggressive positioning for Fed policy tightening. Minutes of the last Fed rates meeting may provide more clues on the outlook.
“We continue to expect equity prices and US long-term yields to increase further over the coming months, as real growth and inflation data picks up especially in the US,” Xavier Chapard, a global macro strategist at Credit Agricole SA. “In the short term they could remain range-bound as a lot of good news is in the prices.”
Elsewhere, a gauge of Asia-Pacific equities fluctuated, with Toshiba Corp. surging after the company received an initial buyout offer from CVC Capital Partners. Indian shares rallied after the central bank retained its accommodative stance, seeking to support an economy facing a resurgence of coronavirus infections.
Oil held around $59 a barrel amid optimism that the economic expansion will pick up. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) upgraded its global growth forecast while warning about a divergence between advanced and less-developed economies.
S&P 500 futures climbed 0.1% as of 8:17 am in London. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1% and the Stoxx Europe 600 was little changed.
While MSCI’s Asia Pacific Index was little changed, MSCI’s Emerging Markets Index dropped 0.3%.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rises 0.1% and the euro was little changed at $1.1875.
While the British pound was flat at $1.3822, the yen slipped 0.1% to 109.87 per dollar.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries falls two basis points to 1.64% and Germany’s 10-year yield dipped two basis points to -0.33%. The UK 10-year yield falls two basis points to as much as 0.78%.
West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 0.4% to $59.09 a barrel and gold dipped 0.3% to $1,738.64 an ounce.