© Reuters. peter nurse
Investing.com – European stock markets traded broadly flat on Wednesday as investors digested the latest inflation data from the UK and dovish signals from the Bank of Japan.
At 03:50 ET (08:50 GMT), the German currency traded flat, the French currency gained 0.1% and the UK currency rose.
The annualized rate rose at 10.5% in December, down from 10.7% the previous month, but unchanged at 0.4% from November.
While this level remains very high, the year-on-year decline in figures has played into the broader narrative that inflation has peaked in the West, prompting central banks to consider slowing the pace of rate hikes. I can.
That said, underlying inflationary pressures remain strong. Excluding fuel and food prices, prices accelerated at the start of the month, rising 0.5% from 0.3% in November. This means it was just 6.3%, more than three times the Bank of England’s target of 2%.
European stocks on Wednesday received a broadly positive handover from Asia after holding onto the current yield curve control range, confusing market expectations for an expansion of the banks’ target range.
The central bank said it would keep interest rates at record lows and maintain accommodative policy for the time being.
The final December release is scheduled for the second half of the session and is expected to see annual growth of 9.2%, down from 10.1% the previous month.
Markets have been waiting for more clues about the US economy from a series of Fed speakers, but the US was seen to have fallen 0.8% in December, providing further impetus for the Fed to slow the pace of rate hikes. doing.
in corporate news burberry (LON:) Chief Financial Officer Julie Brown says luxury brands have seen ‘very promising’ signs in China so far this month after the country lifted strict COVID-19 restrictions. After that, the stock rose 1%. Likewise, sales growth slowed sharply to he 1% in the quarter ending December.
Renault (EPA:) Automaker hits record level of 3.5-month sales in European orders despite group sales falling 5.9% in 2022, marking fourth straight annual decline Shares rose 1.4% after the announcement.
Oil prices rose on Wednesday, boosting optimism that the removal of COVID restrictions from the Chinese economy will lead to a sharp rebound in fuel demand in China, this year’s biggest oil consumer, upping the gains of the previous session. Expanded.
Global oil demand forecasts were unchanged at 2.22 million barrels per day, according to a monthly report released on Tuesday, but China’s oil demand fell this year after contracting for the first time in years in 2022. It said it would add 510,000 barrels per day.
While it is set to report its weekly forecast for U.S. crude oil reserves a day later than usual after the U.S. holiday on Monday, it will release its monthly report later in the day.
By 03:50 ET, the contract was up 0.5% to $86.36, trading 0.8% higher at $81.06 a barrel. Both contracts surged more than 2% on Tuesday in a late-session rally.
It then rose 0.2% to $1,913.55/oz and traded 0.5% higher at 1.0840.
