Shares, yields edge higher as market awaits Powell policy guidance
By Herbert Lash and Marc Jones
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -Global equity markets and Treasury yields edged higher on Thursday on bets the major central banks are done hiking rates, but markets sought guidance from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on whether monetary policy might loosen soon.
Stocks across Europe surged but the major U.S. indices traded little changed after some Fed officials on Tuesday stressed further rate hikes are possible if inflation doesn't decelerate closer to the U.S. central bank's 2% target.
The dollar edged lower, helping gold to rise, as uncertainty about when the Fed might start easing financial conditions gnawed at investors who are trying to gauge whether a slowing economy will enter recession.
Data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits edged down last week, signaling layoffs remain low even as a strong job market shows signs of cooling.
The market is still running on last week's press conference with Powell that was seen as dovish and the old narrative that bad news is good news, said Matt Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management in Boston.
«Initial jobless claims were low. It suggests we're not in a recession yet, so as long as that's the case, we're still chopping around in terms of equity prices,» he said.
«It's tricky because bad news in terms of the economy eventually is bad news. And when the Fed usually cuts, it's not usually good news for the stock market.»
Powell was scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. ET (1900 GMT).
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.28% as the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.87%.
But on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0%, the S&P 500 gained 0.07% and the
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