Home ›› 11 Dec 2021 ›› Stock
World stocks dipped on Friday, retreating from two-week highs set in the previous session amid renewed concerns about Covid-19 and caution ahead of key US inflation data, although oil remained on track for its biggest weekly gain since late August.
Riskier markets have performed well this week, helped by indications the Omicron strain of the new coronavirus might not be as economically disruptive as first feared.
But that bounce was running out of energy on Friday ahead of November’s US consumer price index data, due later.
A Reuters poll of economists expects CPI to have risen 6.8 per cent year-on-year, overtaking October’s 6.2 per cent increase, which was the fastest gain in 31 years.
“It’s likely the base number won’t look great, it’s quite a rise expected compared to previous months,” said Matthias Scheiber, global head of portfolio management at Allspring Global Investments.
However, Scheiber said other indicators such as supply chain statistics suggested inflation could stabilise in the medium term.
There was also some gloom about the Omicron variant in Europe after England introduced more restrictions this week.
The MSCI world equities index fell 0.2 per cent though it was on course for a 2.5 per cent gain on the week.
European stocks were down 0.35 per cent but eyeing a weekly rise of 2.7 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.12 per cent after data showed Britain’s economy grew by a weaker-than-expected 0.1 per cent in October.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.28 per cent, however, clawing back a little ground after the index fell 0.72 per cent on Thursday.
Oil prices were on course to rise more than 6 per cent this week on easing concerns over the impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant on global growth and fuel demand.
US crude rose 0.27 per cent to $71.15 a barrel. Brent crude rose 0.11 per cent to $74.49.
The dollar index was flat, heading towards its seventh consecutive weekly rise, its longest rising streak since mid-2014. The euro was also steady at $1.129.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields picked up to 1.5145 per cent and the two-year yield rose to 0.7310 per cent, its highest since March 2020.
Any upside inflation surprise will likely be interpreted as a case for a faster Fed taper and bring forward expectations for interest rate rises.
Ten-year German government bond yields ticked up to -0.34 per cent.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.8 per cent, snapping three days of gains and Japan’s Nikkei shed 1.0 per cent.
