15th July 2021 Morning Report

Thursday 15th July 2021

U.S. stocks closed marginally higher after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell Congress that inflation will moderate and that the central bank plans to stick to its current monetary policies.

All three major indexes were higher with the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.1%, 0.1% and 0.2% respectively. The S&P 500 is up about 16% so far this year, leading many investors to be concerned that the stock market rally may run out of steam. They are hoping increased earnings will potentially provide more fuel to support markets.

Mr. Powell said in testimony that inflation “has been higher than we’ve expected and a little bit more persistent than we had expected and hoped.” However, he added that price increases should partially reverse as the effects of bottlenecks and supply constraints unwind.

European shares slipped from record highs as global investor are concerned about signs of increasing inflationary pressure. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.3% and UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.4 after data showed British inflation increased to 2.5% in June, above the Bank of England’s target and hitting its highest since August 2018.

Asian markets finished mixed. The Shanghai Composite gained 1.14%, while the Nikkei 225 and the Hang Seng fell 2.07% and 0.27% respectively.

Morning Report 15 July 2021

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