Global Stocks on Friday, March 10, surged as the dollar was on track for its fifth week of gains and crude oil rebounded from recent lows on Friday ahead of closely watched U.S. payrolls data.
A tighter labor market, stock market boom and rising inflation amid a strengthening global economy have left some economists expecting that the Fed could increase interest rates much faster than is currently anticipated by financial markets.
“Global and local inflationary pressures could soon make markets reprice Fed rate hike expectations going into 2018 and beyond, which we think would be bullish for the USD,” said Morgan Stanley forex strategists in a note to clients.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of major currencies, was little changed, as the euro extended its overnight gains, but held close to its highest levels since January.
The euro, and the regional banking index, enjoyed a lift after European Central Bank head Mario Draghi’s suggestion on Thursday it was less necessary to prop up the market through ultra-loose monetary policy.
Optimism about an economic recovery in Europe gaining traction helped the regional benchmark equity index claw back some of its weekly losses. The index rose 0.4 percent helped by financials and energy shares.
Shares of Euro zone banks rose nearly two percent to their highest in more than a year while BT Group jumped more than 4 percent after the telecoms giant after ending a two-year row with the UK regulator.
Futures on Wall Street were up 0.4 percent. Investors globally pumped money into stocks for the tenth straight week, according to the latest data from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and fund tracker EPFR.
The MSCI All-Country World index is less than a percent below all-time highs, Reuters reports.
Year-to-date equity fund inflows of $82 billion now outpace the $80 billion into bond funds, the data showed, further stoking talk of the “Great Rotation” out of fixed income into equities.
