Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,074.69
    +443.63 (+1.12%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    17,769.14
    +50.53 (+0.29%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.39
    +0.01 (+0.01%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,331.80
    -7.10 (-0.30%)
     
  • DOW

    39,130.24
    -39.28 (-0.10%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    48,856.68
    -899.16 (-1.81%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,308.66
    -35.85 (-2.67%)
     
  • NASDAQ Composite

    17,948.08
    +68.79 (+0.38%)
     
  • UK FTSE All Share

    4,429.66
    -21.82 (-0.49%)
     

GLOBAL MARKETS-World stocks extend rally, central banks seen on hold

*

Wall Street futures point at higher open

*

PBOC skips rate cut, BOJ, ECB and BOC seen on hold

*

Intel, Tesla, Netflix among earnings rush

*

US GDP, core PCE inflation could impact Fed outlook

(Adds quote in paragraph 15, recasts for U.S. open, updates prices throughout)

By Nell Mackenzie and Wayne Cole

LONDON/SYDNEY, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Wall Street futures looked set to surpass last week's peaks on Monday, urged on by rising Japanese stock markets and ahead of a week brimming with central bank meetings, major economic data and corporate earnings.

U.S. stock index futures rose, indicating further momentum in the S&P 500 after chip and mega-cap stocks drove the benchmark index to a record high last week.

ADVERTISEMENT

Nasdaq futures extended their rally with gains of 0.6%, while S&P 500 futures firmed 0.3%.

Chipmakers, including Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, were among the beneficiaries of the AI-driven rally.

That helped to send Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index up 583.68 points, its highest close since February 1990, with gains for January to almost 9%.

Yet MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.6%.

The index has been pressured by weakness in China's markets , which hit five-year lows last week and sparked speculation state funds were having to support stocks.

"The wide majority of macro economic data shows we are in a recovery period but that markets have yet to price this in," said Florian Ielpo, head of macro at Lombard Odier Investment Managers, referring to markets in general and the U.S. in particular.

Rates have declined by 1.5%, which should ease costs, but growth rates remain lower than in the past 20 years, said Ielpo.

"We've priced in sub-priced growth at the dawn of a recovery," Ielpo said.

ECB IN NO RUSH

The European Central Bank (ECB) meets on Thursday and is expected to hold monetary policy steady.

Futures have priced in 40 basis points of easing by June, with a first cut in May implied at a 76% chance.

"There may not be a policy shift but we do expect to see some surprise in the language and communications from central bankers this week. It'll be their opportunity to set the record straight," said James Rossiter, head of global macro strategy at TD Securities in London.

Central banks in Canada and Norway also meet this week and no change to rates is expected, though Turkey is thought likely to hike again.

In Beijing, the central bank again skipped a rate cut in its market operations on Monday and the Bank of Japan is expected to keep policy super-easy at a meeting on Tuesday.

In the U.S., Fed officials are in blackout this week ahead of the next meeting on Jan. 30-31.

Hawkish talk has scaled back the probability of a March cut from the Federal Reserve to 49%, from around 75% a couple of weeks ago.

Prospects for an early easing could be affected by data on U.S. economic growth and core inflation due later this week.

Gross domestic product is seen running at an annualised 2% pace in the fourth quarter, while the core personal consumption price index is seen slowing to an annual 3.0% in December, down from 3.2% the previous month and the lowest since early 2021, according to a Reuters poll.

Recent data has tended to surprise on the high side, one reason yields on 10-year Treasuries climbed almost 20 basis points last week. These eased about 5 basis points on Monday to last stand at 4.098%

That shift underpinned the dollar, which hit a five-week high on a basket of currencies. It traded flat on Monday at 103.23 while the euro was idling at $1.089 after easing 0.5% for the week.

All of this left non-yielding gold down about 0.2% at $2,025 an ounce.

In the oil market, dampened global demand could not offset the threat to supply from tensions in the Middle East. Brent rose 22 cents to $78.78 a barrel, while U.S. crude for January rose 31 cents to $73.72 per barrel. (Reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Amanda Cooper, Alex Richardson and Jane Merriman)