Tantrum-Free Fed Taper Lifts Stocks To Record High, BoE Looms For Europe
NDTV
The Fed announced it would trim its bond buying by $15 billion a month from this month, while leaving open the option to quicken or slow the pace as needed.
World stocks hit a record high on Thursday after a smooth start to the US Federal Reserve's mass stimulus unwind plan and as traders waited to see if the Bank of England would be the first major central bank to raise interest rates since COVID hit.
European stocks notched all-time highs for a fourth day running. Oil was up ahead of an OPEC+ meeting, while there was a general drop in volatility on relief that the Fed hadn't pulled any surprises on Wednesday.
"We are constructive in the short-term," said SEB investment management's global head of asset allocation Hans Peterson, encouraged that neither the Fed nor European Central Bank were racing to raise rates at the moment.
"We still think rates are so low that equities continue to have the upper hand".
