Weak dollar lifts euro above $1.11 for first time thisyear
JD.com shares down as Walmart seeks to sell stake
Oil steadier, gold holds near record high
All eyes on Fed's Powell on Friday
(Updates at 1150 GMT)
Global shares idled on Wednesday after a lengthy rebound propelled them towards recent lifetime highs, with investors waiting for clues on interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve on Friday to decide on their next move.
Oil LCOc1 was steady after a run of declines driven by stubborn fears over Chinese demand while dollar weakness on the prospect of rate cuts kept gold near Tuesday's record high.
The MSCI All Country index for global stocks .MIWD00000PUS was flat at 824.73 points, less than 1% below its mid-July lifetime high and up 13.4% for the year.
In Europe, the STOXX .STOXX index of 600 companies was up 0.4% at 514 points, nearing its all-time high of 525.59 on June 7.
Stocks have been on a rollercoaster ride this month after investors took fright following U.S. jobs data that raised the spectre of recession in the world's biggest economy.
Those worries have since given way to bets on a soft landing cushioned by cuts in U.S. borrowing costs expected to start in September.
Preliminary revisions to U.S. labour data are due to be published after the opening bell on Wall Street. A large downward revision is expected, which would support the case for cutting interest rates.
Fed meeting minutes are also expected later on Wednesday to reinforce a dovish stance ahead of a speech from the central bank's chair Jerome Powell on Friday.
"We expect the Fed chairman to continue to signal that a first rate cut is on the cards for September. Yet there is a chance that investors could be disappointed by the comments, if there are any references to the stickiness of inflation," said Guy Stear, head of developed markets strategy at Amundi Investment Institute.
Interest rate futures have fully priced in a 25 basis point U.S. rate cut next month, with a 1 in 3 chance of a 50 bps cut. Almost 100 bps in cuts are priced in for this year, and another 100 bps next year. FEDWATCH
A potentially unique situation beckons where there are material rate cuts but without a recession, unlike the backdrop for cutting borrowing costs in five of the past seven cutting cycles, said Ross Yarrow, U.S. equities managing director at investment bank Baird.
"If we get a scenario where the Fed is cutting, inflation is falling and employment continues to rise, it really does start to look like a Goldilocks scenario," Yarrow said.
"So I think the rebound in equities and their prospects from here are actually pretty good," Yarrow said.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 .SPX snapped eight sessions of gains with a 0.2% overnight drop as investors took a breather.
U.S ESc1 stock index futures were firmer.
WALMART SELLS JD.COM STAKE MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.4%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI slid 0.7% with JD.com 9618.HK dropping 8.7% as top shareholder Walmart WMD.N moved to sell its large stake.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 fell 0.3% as a recovery from its collapse in early August runs into resistance around the 38,000 level.
The falling dollar has launched gold to record highs and returned the yen JPY=EBS to 146.080 per greenback, a gain of about 1.6% for the week so far and some 11% higher than last month's 38-year trough.
The euro EUR=EBS is up nearly 3% for August to date and, at $1.111, is at its highest since early December.
The mood kept bond markets supported and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields US10YT=RR were little changed at 3.816%, while two-year yields US2YT=RR hovered at 3.99%, also little changed on the day.
Commodity prices stabilised with Brent crude futures LCOc1 at $77.37 a barrel, up 0.2% on the day.
Dalian iron ore prices climbed more than 4% after a Bloomberg report that China plans to allow local governments to buy unsold homes in the latest property-market support measure.
China is the world's biggest steel consumer and markets are sensitive to any signs that construction could get back on track.
Big miners' shares (BHP) (RIO) (FMG) were steady in Australia, and gained in London.
Gold prices XAU= hovered at $2,511 an ounce, just below record levels touched on Tuesday.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ World FX rates YTD http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVhGlobal asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn Asian stock markets https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4 U.S. stocks back up to levels seen before early August selloff https://tmsnrt.rs/4dT7Pkx
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> ((To read Reuters Markets and Finance news, click onhttps://www.reuters.com/finance/markets For the state of play of Asian stock markets please click on:
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