Home ›› 09 Apr 2022 ›› Stock
European shares rebounded on Friday, playing catch-up with a modest bounce the previous day on Wall Street, and the dollar index hit 100 for the first time in nearly two years as US bond yields hovered near multi-year highs.
World stocks edged higher but were still on track for their first weekly loss in four as the prospect of aggressive global rate hikes and geopolitical uncertainty kept investors wary.
Risk appetite declined during the week as minutes from the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank showed policymakers are set to ramp up efforts to rein in inflation.
At 1023 GMT, the MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 50 countries, was up 0.1 per cent on the day but for the week was down 1.3 per cent. The pan-European STOXX 600 was 0.9 per cent higher.
Futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq 100 were all up around 0.2 per cent.
Eddie Cheng, head of international multi-asset portfolio management at Allspring Global Investments, said European stocks’ move higher was “probably just a little bit of a reprieve” from the week’s downward trend.
Investors remained preoccupied with the Fed raising rates and the war in Ukraine. “The uncertainty is ...increasing,” he said, noting fresh sanctions on Russia that the European Union formally adopted on Friday.
French presidential election risk was evident in bond markets as French borrowing costs rose while yields of other core European government bonds fell. Investors are concerned that far-right candidate Marine Le Pen could beat incumbent Emmanuel Macron.
“A Macron victory would be welcomed ... as markets would price in ...(a) continued business-friendly administration,”
