Investor sentiment recovered despite the ongoing diplomatic crisis in Ukraine and expectations of monetary policy in China have made Asian stock markets soar.
Rises in Friday's session for US -listed Chinese stocks provided an opportunity for a positive opening in Hong Kong while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures fell from their 16 -month bests.
According to Ed Yardeni, President of Yardeni Research, cash wealth at U.S. firms adds to the strengthening of sentiment on equity markets.
He said US monetary policy was no longer bullish for stocks due to the tightening made by the Federal Reserve (Fed), however, buybacks and dividends should remain an important source of stock market price increases.
For the record, investors are also looking forward to a speech by Jerome Powell on Monday, less than a week after he announced a monetary tightening campaign to curb high inflation.
In addition, European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde will speak at the BIS conference on Tuesday (March 23), Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey and United Kingdom (UK) Finance Minister Rishi Sunak on the budget on Wednesday.
As for the bond market, investors remained cautious in cautious sentiment over war risks and the Fed’s tightening policy, with the treasury yield curve flat while partially upside down, indicating a slowdown in economic growth.
10 -year treasury yields were down 2 basis points at 2.15% on Friday.
The dollar gauge is up and the Yen is approaching a 6 -year low.
The Japanese Yen traded at 119.25 per dollar, the Yuan at 6.3720 per dollar and the Euro at US $ 1.1044.
Meanwhile, the Russia-Ukraine crisis continues to add to inflationary pressures with prices of key commodities such as oil and cereals rising.
As a result, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices rose US $ 106 a barrel as investors continued to observe tensions in the Middle East.
Gold traded at $ 1,919.23 an ounce.
