Global stocks set for longest winning streak of 2024: Market roundup

(Times of Update) — Stocks advanced after a buoyant session on Wall Street, amid bets that the Federal Reserve will soon signal it is ready to start cutting interest rates.

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MSCI’s all-country stock index is set for a ninth day of gains, its longest streak since December. Europe’s Stoxx 600 index and U.S. futures posted modest gains, while 10-year Treasury yields were flat. The yen slipped to hover around 147 per dollar.

Traders are taking a break after Monday’s session in the United States sent the S&P 500 surging for the eighth straight day. Stock market volumes are trending lower as investors are reluctant to place big bets before central bankers gather for the Fed’s economic symposium in Jackson Hole this week.

“What we’ve seen happen is a series of recent data that have allayed fears of slowing U.S. growth without stoking fears of a further acceleration in inflation,” said Kyle Rodda, senior market analyst at Capital.Com Inc.

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In Europe, investors will be watching euro zone inflation figures, due later, for signs of slowing price growth. Rising risks to the growth outlook have reinforced the need for monetary policy adjustment at the European Central Bank’s meeting next month, Governing Council member Olli Rehn said.

On the corporate front, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.’s preliminary proposal to buy 7-Eleven owner Seven & i Holdings Co. could be worth more than 5.63 trillion yen ($38.4 billion), based on the Japanese company’s stock market value after news of the potential deal broke.

The Asian currency index hit its highest level since January, while oil posted its biggest drop in two weeks as the United States announced that Israel had accepted a ceasefire proposal in Gaza.

Copper slowed its recent rally and gold rose above $2,500 an ounce on expectations of a Fed rate cut.

Main events of the week:

• Eurozone CPI, Tuesday

• US Fed Minutes, BLS Preliminary Annual Payroll Revision, Wednesday

• Eurozone HCOB PMI, Consumer Confidence, Thursday

• ECB to publish minutes of July interest rate decision on Thursday

• U.S. Initial Jobless Claims, Existing Home Sales, S&P Global PMI, Thursday

• Japan CPI, Friday

• Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will attend a special session of Japan’s parliament on Friday to discuss the July 31 rate hike.

• US New Home Sales, Friday

• Fed Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at the Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming on Friday

The story continues

Some of the main movements in the markets:

Actions

• The Stoxx Europe 600 index was little changed at 8:03 a.m. London time.

• S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%

• Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were little changed

• The MSCI Asia-Pacific index rose 0.3%

• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.2%

Currencies

• The Times of Update Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro was little changed at $1.1081.

• The Japanese yen fell 0.3 percent to 147.08 per dollar.

• The offshore yuan fell 0.1% to 7.1432 per dollar.

• The pound sterling was little changed…