Today is the second of the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Kansas, USA, a symposium attended by central bankers, finance ministers and economic experts from all over the world. In the coming hours, a speech by Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, and a speech by Christine Lagarde, Governor of the European Central Bank, are expected.
Since the start of trading hours in the European session, the performance of the eurozone indices and others outside the Union has progressed. The German DAX index has risen so far by 101 points, the British FTSE index has risen by 51 points, and the pan-European STOXX 600 index has risen by more than two and a half points.
Today, investors are awaiting Powell and Lagarde’s speech, where central bankers talk about the general outlook for the economy, led by the American and European, and such words the markets are sensitive to what they mean, as the present economic situation and the future vision are reflected in the markets, especially on the price of currencies and stock indices, as taken into consideration when setting the interest rate by the central bank.
In the Asian session this morning, the main indices declined, as the Australian ASX 200 index fell by 63 points, the Japanese Nikkei index also declined by more than 660 points, and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index fell by 92 points, while the Chinese Shanghai index tended to remain stable.
From Powell and Lagarde’s previous statements, we can expect that neither of them will predict future monetary policy in the United States and the euro area. The vision is still somewhat hazy, although some expect the start of monetary policy easing and interest rate reduction in 2024, but they are likely to talk about the economic situation. The year in the country at the present time, in addition to the challenges that the central bank is supposed to face to make its next decisions.
Powell and Lagarde previously indicated that setting the interest rate cannot be done without studying the economic data, in addition to taking into account the indicators expressing the state of the job market, prices, investment and consumption, and it is too early to predict the course of the interest rate, but they stressed the persistence of the specter of inflation despite The beginning of controlling him and curbing his power.
