Global shares mostly higher ahead of Federal Reserve chair's key speech
CTV
Global shares were mostly higher on Wednesday, ahead of a closely watched speech by the Federal Reserve chief that may give clues about future interest rate hikes.
Global shares were mostly higher on Wednesday, ahead of a closely watched speech by the Federal Reserve chief that may give clues about future interest rate hikes.
Investors were also eyeing developments in China, where protests have erupted over the "zero-COVID" strategy that has confined millions of people to their homes, sometimes for months.
France's CAC 40 added 0.6% in early trading to 6,707.52, while Germany's DAX gained 0.7% to 14,454.72. Britain's FTSE 100 advanced nearly 0.4% at 7,536.51. The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while that for the Dow industrials gained 0.1%.
China has eased some controls after demonstrations in at least eight mainland cities and Hong Kong. It's unclear if protests will start up again after authorities detained an unknown number of people and stepped up surveillance.
Renewed restrictions on businesses and other activity have hit manufacturing, with an official survey announced Wednesday showing the purchasing managers index falling to 48.0 in November from 49.2 the month before. The index is on a scale of 0 to 100 where readings 50 and above show expansion.
"A further fall in the new orders and new export orders indices suggests this was largely driven by weakening domestic and foreign demand," Capital Economics said in a report. "Todays surveys suggest that intensified virus disruption has delivered another blow to the economy this month."
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.2% to finish at 27,968.99 after reports said industrial production contracted 2.6% in October, compared with 1.7% in September, amid weakening demand from China and other world markets.
