Dollar gains, stocks falter after US inflation data

NEW YORK: Global share prices slid from record highs on Tuesday ater US inflation rose by the most in 13 years in June, driving the dollar up, the yield on benchmark US government debt initially down and stocks on Wall Street to trade near break-even.

The US consumer price index jumped 5.4% year over year last month, the largest gain since August 2008, following a 5.0% increase in the 12 months through May, the Labor Department said. CPI increased 0.9% month over month ater advancing 0.6% in May.

One print on inflation will not significantly change the outlook of policymakers at the Federal Reserve, said Michael Brown, senior analyst at Caxton in London.

The immediate market reaction was tame “as people try to dig into all of these numbers because they don’t want to get wrong- footed in the way they did ater the May CPI,” said Jim Vogel, fixed income strategist at FHN Financial in Memphis. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note fell 1.4 basis points to yield 1.3493%, ater jumping to 1.39% following the inflation data’s release.

Gold edged higher but an advancing dollar and bond yields kept the metal confined to a tight range and Latin American currencies came under pressure from the US inflation spike as investors feared the Fed would tighten monetary policy.

“A lot of this will play into the Fed’s transitory story,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, interest rate strategist at TD Securities in New York.

“There is certainly some concern that some of these price increases are coming in much quicker than expected, but you can argue that a lot of this is due to the recovery,” he said.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 50 countries, rose 0.06% to 727.8, while Europe’s broad Ftseurofirst 300 index dropped 0.11% at 1,776.18.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial

Average fell 68.57 points, or 0.2%, to 34,927.61, the S&P 500 gained 0.57 points, or 0.01%, to 4,385.2 and the Nasdaq Composite added 43.78 points, or 0.3%, to 14,777.02.

Traders are looking forward to Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifying before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday, for any signals on the timing of potential US tapering.

The euro was last down 0.32% at $1.1821 and the yen was last down 0.04% at $110.3100.

Overnight in Asia, MSCI’S broadest index of Asia-pacific shares outside Japan rose 1%, its best daily gain since late June, led by a 1.6% rise in Hong Kong, where tech stocks rose broadly. Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.5% while Australian shares closed broadly flat.

In Hong Kong, tech behemoth Tencent Holdings Ltd jumped 3.9% ater China’s antitrust regulator on Tuesday approved its plan to take China’s No.3 search engine, Sogou Inc , private in a $3.5 billion deal.

“We have clearly seen a ( new) round of corrections of the technology sector, which places a heavy weight on Hong Kong’s stock market, due to concerns over a new round of regulatory crackdown following the probe into Didi. Against this backdrop, there is room for a short-term rebound,” said Zhang Zihua, chief investment officer at Beijing Yunyi Asset Management.

Euro zone government bond yields have fallen in line with US Treasuries in recent weeks, and are running close to their lowest levels since early April.

Germany’s 10-year bond yield was unchanged at -0.30%, close to a three-month low of -0.344% that was hit last week.

South Africa’s rand dropped to a three-month low, slipping 1.2% to 14.4000 against the dollar, as violence escalated over the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma.

Oil prices edged up as tight supply and expectations of a further draw in US and global crude inventories provided support, though fears over the spreading COVID-19 variant capped gains.

Brent crude was last up $0.26, or up 0.35%, at $75.42 a barrel. US crude was last up $0.05, or up 0.07%, at $74.15 per barrel. Spot gold prices rose $5.4926 or 0.30%, to $1,811.37 an ounce.

Separately, the Bank of England on Tuesday ditched limits on dividends banks pay out to their shareholders that were first introduced at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic as part of a package of measures to shore up the British economy.

The bank’s Financial Policy Commitee, which monitors risks to financial stability, said the limits were “no longer necessary.” But it stressed that lenders will need to provide ongoing support to the economy, not least because the government is ending its salary support scheme in September and emergency business loans start having to be paid back.