Stocks steady with futures before ECB rate liftoff
BNN Bloomberg
European stocks steadied with U.S. equity futures Thursday as investors braced for the European Central Bank’s first interest rate hike in 11 years
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index and the euro recouped losses following the resignation of Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were little changed. Treasury yields rose, pushing the 10-year benchmark above 3 per cent.
Italy’s political turmoil ramps up the pressure on the ECB just before it unveils its new crisis management tool to shield the most vulnerable eurozone members from market speculation. Thursday’s monetary policy decision will end an era of negative rates that helped the region’s economies navigate the global financial crisis, the sovereign debt meltdown and then the 2020 pandemic.
Risk sentiment remains fragile as investors debate whether equities have reached a trough after this year’s selloff amid the war in Ukraine, a slowdown in China and the prospect of a US recession. The resumption of gas exports to Europe through Nord Stream is set to provide some relief for the continent that’s racing to store the fuel before the winter.
