NEW YORK, Sept 15 — Global equity markets and US bond yields fell yesterday after data showed inflation cooling in the Unites States, raising fresh questions on when the US central bank will begin tapering its asset purchases.
MSCI’s world stocks benchmark fell 0.33 per cent, and all 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 ended the session lower, with energy and financials falling the most.
European shares closed 0.1 per cent lower, dragged down by mining, banks and luxury stocks, which followed Asian luxury stocks in falling on a new spike in Covid-19 cases in Fujian, China.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell more than 6 basis points on the day to a low of 1.263 per cent, the lowest reading since August 24.
The US Labour Department said its Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up just 0.1 per cent last month, compared with an expected increase of 0.3 per cent. That was the smallest gain in six months, and it indicated that inflation has probably peaked.
While that aligns with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s long-held belief that high inflation is transitory, economists and market watchers remain concerned by ongoing supply constraints and labour costs that could continue for months.
“Today’s CPI data came in a bit weaker than expected, but (the Producer Price Index) is at a record high and inflation continues to be a key challenge for investors,” said David Petrosinelli, Senior Trader at InspereX.
“These trends are indicating labour costs will continue to rise, which could make inflation stickier over the long-term.”
The Fed will meet next week. The August CPI data lifts some of the pressure the Fed faced to announce it would begin tapering its massive bond-buying programme.
Further delaying this key Fed announcement is “distorting” the economy and throwing off markets, said BlackRock’s Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income Rick Rieder.
“Continuing to stimulate demand higher increases the risk of a severe supply/demand mismatch across economic as well as financial assets,” said Rieder, also the head of BlackRock’s global allocation team.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 292.06 points, or 0.84 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 25.68 points, or 0.57 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 67.82 points, or 0.45 per cent.
The prospect of a corporate tax hike in the United States from 21 per cent to 26.5 per cent as part of a US$3.5 trillion (RM14.5 trillion) budget bill is also front and centre for investors.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc estimates that if Democrats succeed in raising the corporate tax rate increase to 25 per cent and get half of the hike proposed in foreign income tax rates, it could shave 5 per cent off S&P500 earnings in 2022.
In Asia, China’s tightening grip on its technology companies again kept investors on edge after authorities told tech giants to stop blocking each other’s links on their sites.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.43 per cent.
The dollar index fell 0.03 points or 0.03 per cent, to 92.645.
The euro was flat against the dollar at US$1.1807.
Oil prices ended largely unchanged as Tropical Storm Nicholas brought heavy rain and power outages in Texas but caused less damage to US energy infrastructure than Hurricane Ida caused earlier this month.
Brent crude settled up 90 cents, or 0.1 per cent, at US$73.60 a barrel. US crude ended 10 cents higher at US$70.46 per barrel.
Spot gold prices rose US$12.7509, or 0.7 per cent, to US$1,806.24 an ounce. — Reuters
