Major indices worldwide traded higher on Wednesday following the next U.S. Treasury secretary nominee Janet Yellen’s comments calling for a bigger stimulus package on Tuesday.
Futures: The Dow futures are up by 0.11%, and the S&P 500 futures are trading higher by 1.06% on the last check Wednesday. WTI crude futures are up by 1.23% to $ 53.63, and gold futures are trading higher by 0.79% at $ 1,854.70. Ten-year Treasury yield is unchanged at 1.092%. The VIX futures are up by 8.07% to 25.10.
Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin is trading lower by 5.72% at $ 35,166 on the last check, and Ethereum is down 1.73% at $ 1,355.70 after hitting a new all-time high. Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, and it has been buoyed by an ecosystem of decentralized finance.
Asia: Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed lower by 0.38%, as gains in mining stocks were more than offset by losses in airlines and banks stocks. Japan has a busy economic calendar for Wednesday with PPI, trade balance, and foreign investment data in focus. Tentatively, the Bank of Japan could release the interest rate decision today.
China’s Shanghai Composite closed higher by 0.47% after People’s Bank of China kept the prime loan rate unchanged at 3.85%. Commodity and industrial stocks rose on Wednesday, partially offset by a fall in bank stocks.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed higher by 0.41%, near its 11-month high, on optimism from domestic corporate earnings. The continent’s unemployment data is due today.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.08%. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) shares gained 8.5% in Hong Kong after its founder Jack Ma made an online public appearance after months.
India’s Nifty 50 index is trading up by 0.92%, driven by gains in autos, PSU banks, and technology shares. Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) rallied 6.2% at press time after the company announced securing 98 patents related to connected and electric vehicles.
South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 0.71%, with PPI data in focus.
Europe: Euro Stoxx 50 is trading higher by 0.51% at publication time. The bloc’s economic sentiment for January rose to 58.3, and November construction output grew 1.41% month-over-month. CPI data is scheduled to release today.
London’s FTSE 100 is trading near flat at press time following December CPI growth of 0.3% MoM and PPI input growth of 0.8% MoM.
Germany’s DAX is trading higher by 0.59% after December PPI grew 0.8% MoM. Automobile stocks are pushing the index up with Daimler AG (OTC: DDAIF) up 2.1%, as Warburg Research analyst Marc Rene Tonn maintained a Buy rating on the stock.
France’s CAC 40 is up 0.49%, and Spain’s IBEX 35 is trading higher by 0.12% at publication time.
Forex Trading: U.S. Dollar Index futures are down 0.06% to 90.422. The dollar has weakened by 0.46% against the Sterling Pound, 0.10% against the Japanese Yen, and 0.15% against the Chinese Yuan, but gained 0.03% against the Euro.
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