Opening Bell: Futures Rise On Additional Central Bank Assurances; Gold Pops

 | May 26, 2021 08:38AM ET

  • Fed and ECB officials join dovish chorus to ease market worries
  • Bitcoin back over $40,000
  • Oil could break out
  • h2 Key Events/h2

    With Fed policymakers intensifying their efforts to downplay inflation expectations, on Wednesday, US futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 all advance along with European stocks.

    Gold jumped and the dollar eased.

    h2 Global Financial Affairs/h2

    Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida said the economy could absorb spiking inflation and that his central bank could handle it. San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly said in a CNBC interview that the economic rebound is encouraging, it is “way too early” to remove accommodation.

    All four US contracts were in the green this morning, signaling the underlying indices could rebound from yesterday’s declines after home sales and consumer confidence data indicated higher prices were hurting demand, offsetting dovish reassurances from Fed members.

    The STOXX Europe 600 Index climbed as ECB board member Fabio Panetta joined the Fed’s chorus, saying the ECB should not yet scale down its asset purchasing program. The pan-European benchmark added value for the fifth straight day, its longest winning streak of the year so far, putting a fresh record close on the table.

    British retailer Marks & Spencer Group (LON:MKS) surged as much as 6.3% today, despite posting an 88% plunge in its annual profit. The stock touched its highest levels since March 2020, but settled at a 4.2% gain at time of writing, it's move courtesy of rebounding consumer demand.

    Paris-based multinational food company Danone SA (PA:DANO) was down as much as 1.8% in early trade but appeared to have found its footing, closing the gap to 0.7% at of time of writing, after German investment bank Berenberg downgraded the stock to “sell,” citing the challenging low-growth nature of most of its categories.