LONDON—World shares inched closer to their best month since late 2020 on Thursday as oil dipped after OPEC+ postponed its weekend meeting.
Traders were getting their moves in before the annual U.S. Thanksgiving holiday scythes volumes later but there was plenty to keep them busy while they did it.
Slightly stronger than expected German and French inflation data nudged the euro and bond yields higher, Sweden’s crown dropped as its central bank left rates on hold while Dutch bank stocks fell after anti-EU right candidate Geert Wilders scored a huge election win.
The PMI in Germany beat expectations but was “not enough to say we have turned the corner on the economy,” said Close Brothers Asset Management chief investment officer Robert Alster, adding that activity had still contracted.
“Holland is genuine surprise as a win for the right, but I suspect the market will wait to see what happens in terms of a coalition.”
A fan of Hungary’s eurosceptic Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Mr. Wilders has vowed to halt immigration, slash Dutch payments to the European Union, and block the entrance of any new members, including Ukraine.
ECB Minutes in Focus
For traders, the next thing to watch will be the minutes of the European Central Bank’s most recent meeting and a interest rate decision in Turkey where the central bank is expected to maintain its rapid run of interest rate hikesIn Asia, the focus was on China where there were more signs of support for the long-suffering property market.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ended little changed in thin trading, with Japan also on holiday.
Meanwhile, a large wealth manager with heavy exposure to the property market disclosed that it faces insolvency with relevant liabilities of up to $64 billion.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 is nearing a fresh high for 2023, with the S&P 500 and MSCI’s all-country world index both up more than 8 percent this month alone. For MSCI world that is the best showing since November 2020.
Germany’s 10-year bund, the benchmark for the Europe, was fractionally higher on the day at 2.57 percent having touched 3 percent last month. Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields were little changed at 4.4 percent.
The euro’s bounce pushed the dollar index back down towards a 2–1/2 month low having moved away from it on Wednesday after the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected.
Sterling also recovered from a knock it had taken on Wednesday when UK Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt unveiled a string of tax cuts in his autumn budget, but also forecast a far more sluggish economic outlook than previously expected.
In commodity markets, news that OPEC+ postponed a weekend meeting sent both Brent and U.S. WTI down 1.4 percent to $80.70 and $76.03 per barrel on expectations it might see the group cut output less than anticipated.
In cryptocurrencies, buyers were still digesting the news of Binance chief Changpeng Zhao stepping down and pleading guilty to violations of U.S. anti-money laundering laws as part of a $4 billion settlement.
Bitcoin fell by 0.77 percent on Thursday to $37,337 after it rose nearly 5 percent on Wednesday.