Wall Street stocks declined marginally after the Federal Reserve repeated its promise of support for the economy as, at the same time, the central bank projected a 6.5% decline in gross domestic product this year and a 9.3% unemployment rate. Meanwhile, fresh data showed that U.S. consumer prices fell for a third straight month in May. The CPI dipped 0.1% last month after plunging 0.8% in April, which was the largest decline since December 2008. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.39%, the S&P 500 lost 0.05%, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.96%.
Today in Asia, equities were on the defensive after the U.S. Federal Reserve painted a grim picture of the U.S. recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.5%, China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.78% while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell over 2.0%.
European markets followed suit and started the session on a downbeat note on Thursday, continuing their reversal after a strong rally. The Stoxx Europe 600 slipped by more than 2.5% as investors digested the latest comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Elsewhere, the dollar is mixed against the majors on Thursday after yesterday’s decline following the Fed meeting. EURUSD resumed the ascent after a short-lived retreat witnessed earlier in the day. The pair bounced from intraday lows around 1.1325 and turned positive again, trading marginally below the 1.14 barrier. Later today, US jobless claims and PPI data could affect short-term dynamics in the common currency through the dollar’s reaction.
In other markets, BTCUSD remains within a tight range, struggling to make a decisive break above the $10,000 handle. Bitcoin was rejected from this psychological level on Wednesday and sees a mild bearish bias today. If the prices manage to hold above the $9,600 region in the short term, a more robust ascent could be expected down the road.
