Equity markets track Wall Street rally as investors await Fed’s conference - 24.8.2021

The Dollar weakening has halted currently . The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, lost 0.5% on Monday as Markit’s data showing private sector activity expansion continued to slow in August supported the view the Fed would not move as fast as feared with the plan to shift away from its accommodative monetary policy starting this September.

GBP/USD joined EUR/USD’s continued climbing Monday as Markit data showed euro-zone economy remains on track for strong third-quarter growth despite some slowing of activity across both manufacturing and service sectors in August. Euro is down against the Dollar currently while Pound is higher still. AUD/USD reversed its sliding Monday while USD/JPY reversed its advancing both the yen lower against the Greenback currently and Australian dollar higher still.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are up currently as 10-year US Treasury note yields inched up to 1.268%. The three major Wall Street stock benchmarks ended higher Monday recording daily gains in the range of 0.6% to 1.55% Monday as second-quarter earnings season is winding down with SP 500 poised to grow its earnings by 94.7% year over year with more than 90% SP 500 companies having reported results.

European stock indexes are gaining currently after ending higher Monday with oil and gas shares leading gains. Asian indexes are mostly rising today with Hong Kong’s Heng Seng Index leading gains as investors snapped up tech and healthcare shares after sell-off last week.