While Asian equities saw modest gains during Wednesday’s trading, Europe and the United States were on the verge of stagnation. There is clearly growing nervousness among investors about the upcoming monetary policy meeting of the US central bank.
Poor prospects
As early as next week, the US Fed will decide on the next interest rate move and almost no one doubts that it will be an upward move. The only discussion, reflection or speculation concerns how intense the next “hike” will be. And there is virtually universal agreement that the Fed will raise its rates again by 0.75 percentage points.
No big moves
This nervousness has been reflected in stock markets virtually around the world. Asian bourses rose marginally, but rather erased only the losses recorded in the previous days. European markets ended slightly in the red, although there were exceptions such as Madrid. The United States more or less took a similar course to Europe.
Thus, only a monetary policy decision by the Fed that would cause a positive surprise could shake stocks out of their lethargy. That is, rates would rise less than is now widely expected.
