The pan-European Stoxx 600 oscillated around the flat-line in early trade
US stocks finished higher overnight to hit fresh record highs ahead of the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting and fresh economic data, including the employment report. The central bank is widely expected to announce the beginning of asset purchase tapering later today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, closing above 36,000 for the first time, gained 0.4% while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 added 0.3% and 0.37%, respectively.
In individual stocks, Tesla finished 3% lower on Tuesday after its CEO Elon Musk said the company has not yet signed a contract with Hertz for its mega-order of 100,000 vehicles. As a reminder, a week ago Hertz announced it would grow its fleet of battery-electric vehicles with “an initial order of 100,000 Teslas by the end of 2022.”
Despite positive dynamics in Wall Street stocks, Asian markets were lower on Wednesday ahead of the FOMC meeting outcome. The Shanghai Composite in China was hovering just above the flat-line while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dipped 0.30% after trimming intraday losses.
In Europe, stocks opened marginally lower today as investors remain cautious ahead of the FOMC meeting later today. Also, the Bank of England is also expected to hike the rate by 15bps during the meeting on Thursday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 oscillated around the flat-line in early trade. US stock index futures were little changed as well.
In currencies, the USD index suffers modest losses around the 94.00 figure during the European hours on Wednesday. Besides the Fed, the ADP report will take center stage later in the session. As such, the euro turned marginally higher on the day but stayed below the 20-DMA, struggling to regain the 1.1600 figure. Should the greenback rally across the board following the outcome of the Fed meeting, EURUSD may revisit the 1.1550 region.
