European and US stock futures are little changed this Tuesday as investors await more clues on the direction of monetary policy from major central banks in the face of inflationary pressures. On investors’ radar is the release of US inflation data this Thursday, the most relevant indicator that will be known ahead of the Fed’s decision later this month.
In the Asian session, Japan’s Topix rose 0.1%, South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng depreciated 0.5% and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.9%.
Global equities continue to hover near all-time highs, buoyed by reopening economies and central bank support. However, concerns persist about how long this extraordinary support will last, as authorities will eventually reduce stimulus as the recovery gathers pace.
“We advocate the importance of looking at near-term market volatility and remaining pro-risk, based on our belief that the Fed still faces very large obstacles to changing its accommodative monetary policy stance,” BlackRock Investment Institute strategists led by Elga Bartsch wrote in a note quoted by Bloomberg.
