Financial Markets Daily Report19 March 2024
Markets kicked off the week with a tranquil session ahead of a week full of central bank meetings, starting with the Bank of Japan today, and continuing with the Fed and the BoE later on. In this context, sovereign bond yields slightly rose across the board, while equities advanced modestly in the US led by tech stocks, and were mixed in the euro area.
- Markets kicked off the week with a tranquil session ahead of a week full of central bank meetings, starting with the Bank of Japan today, and continuing with the Fed and the BoE later on. In this context, sovereign bond yields slightly rose across the board, while equities advanced modestly in the US led by tech stocks, and were mixed in the euro area.
- Today the BoJ officially ended its negative interest rate policy by hiking the short-term interest rate for the first time in 17 years to the 0%-0.1% range, and announced the end of its yield curve control program. The Nikkei 225 had powered ahead of the meeting and closed higher afterwards, while the yen weakened as overall financial conditions remain loose.
- Elsewhere, commodites were positive, with oil prices surging almost 2%, close to $87/barrel of Brent, following reports of lower exports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The price of the European natural gas reference rose above 28€/MWh. The US dollar strengthened mildly, leaving the euro just below $1.09.