Equities rebound intact after dovish Fed meeting - 18.3.2021

The Dollar weakening is intact currently ahead of the US Labor Department report at 13:30 CET expected to show 704 thousand Americans sought unemployment benefits over the last week, down from 712 thousand the previous week. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, lost 0.5% Wednesday.

EUR/USD joined GBP/USD’s sustained climbing yesterday as euro-zone statistics bureau Eurostat reported final euro zone annual inflation rate was 0.9% in February 2021, stable compared to January. Pound is higher against the Dollar currently while euro is flat. AUD/USD continued its climbing while USD/JPY continued its sliding Wednesday with both Australian dollar and yen higher against the Greenback currently.

The US stock futures are up currently after SP 500 and Dow closed at record highs on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve projected the US economy would grow by 6.5% this year - the largest annual output growth since 1984. Federal Reserve policy makers left the central bank's easy money stance in place, saying they expect no interest rate hikes through 2023, even if inflation overshoots 2%. The three main US stock indexes booked gains ranging from 0.3% to 0.6%.

European stock indexes are mixed currently after a bearish session Wednesday led by mining stocks. Asian stock indexes are mostly higher today with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index leading gains.