Wall Street flashes mixed signals as markets respect new easing cycle

Despite the US inflation numbers pouring cold water on the Fed’s easing bias, markets remain attentive to the Fedspeak on Thursday. However, equity bulls seem to have retracted their buying bets amid fear of the beginning of the new easing cycle, taking clues from the global central banks. As a result, an initial rally in stocks couldn’t last until the end.

Details suggest, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, DJIA, gained 227.88 points, or 0.85%, to 27,088.08, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.08%, to 8,196.04. The S&P 500 index finished 6.84 points higher at 2,999.91 a gain of 0.23%.

Some of the notable Fed policymakers like Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams and Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles held their easing bias intact while offering additional back up to the Fed Chair Powell’s second-day Testimony.

On the trade front, the US President Donald Trump again took on his Twitter to criticize China’s latest turnaround from the US farm productions, offering another barrier to tackle during the on-going trade talks.

Treasury yields were on the spike with the US 10-year treasury yield gaining nearly 8 basis points to 2.143% by the press time.

Today’s US Producers’ Price Index (PPI) and the on-going slew of comments from the US Federal Reserve policymakers can keep entertaining global investors on Friday.

DJIA levels

While sellers aim for the 24,800 recent swing bottoms, 127.2% Fibonacci extension around 28,500 can flash on the bull’s radar.