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World stocks near record high, US bond yields near 1-month low

MSCI’s All Country World Index last stood at 716.55 after hitting an intraday high of 718.19 on Tuesday, led by gains in Europe.

European stocks are expected to open almost unchanged, with Euro-Stoxx futures up 0.1% and UK FTSE futures down 0.1% in early trading.

In Asia, the broadest MSCI index for Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan fell 0.20% and the Japanese Nikkei average fell 0.28%.

On Wall street on Tuesday the S&P500 was stable and close to its record high. Meanwhile, the US 10-year debt yield fell to 1.513%, its lowest level in a month, and declined a quarter of a percentage point from a 14-month high of 1.776% in March. Most recently it was 1.533% on Wednesday, almost unchanged.

“With the recovery in the labor market curbed, it is unlikely that any discussion of tapering at the Fed will gain momentum, even if it begins soon.” said Naokazu Koshimizu, senior rate strategist at Nomura Securities.

“Those who were betting on a steepening of the yield curve are therefore reducing their positions, while some investors are now also buying to earn carry.”

Last Friday’s U.S. payroll data showed that new hires weren’t growing as fast as economists expected, despite increasing signs of labor shortages. Many analysts believe that more evidence of strong employment growth would be needed for the Federal Reserve to step up its discussion on tapering.

The US Federal Reserve has said that inflation spikes this quarter would be temporary and would not jeopardize price stability, one of its key mandates. Thursday’s US consumer price data is expected to show annual headline inflation rose to 4.7% and core inflation rose to 3.4%.

While these numbers will be well above the Fed’s inflation target of 2%, many economists expect the inflation rate to fall in the coming months. make the Fed wait before taking action to reduce it.