European markets nudge higher ahead of Powell’s Jackson Hole speech
European markets ticked higher on Friday as global attention turns to U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 added 0.5% in early trade, with basic resources climbing 1.7% to lead gains while media stocks fell 0.6%.
Powell is due to speak at 3 p.m. London time, and investors around the world will be tuning in for clues as to the pace and trajectory of the central bank’s monetary policy tightening efforts as it looks to rein in inflation.
While the market will also be looking out for the prospect of a future dovish pivot once price increases are deemed to be under control, many analysts expect the chairman to adopt a hawkish tone and reiterate the Fed’s commitment to dragging inflation back toward target.
“Powell is likely to push back on premature expectations of a dovish pivot, reiterating the focus on the fight against high inflation and the Fed’s data-dependency,” said Silvia Dall’Angelo, senior economist at Federated Hermes.
“While the latest data on U.S. inflation has been encouraging, suggesting headline inflation might have peaked in June, the Fed is not out of the woods: inflation is still very elevated, there are still price pressures in the pipeline and the outlook for commodity prices is uncertain amid persistent geopolitical tensions.”
U.S. stock futures were flat in early premarket trade after a positive regular session on Wall Street Thursday, while shares in Asia-Pacific rose by Friday afternoon.
Back in Europe, a German consumer sentiment reading for September is due Friday along with French and Italian consumer confidence data for August.
U.K. energy regulator Ofgem also announced its latest increase in the country’s energy price cap, offering a bleak insight into the path of the deepening cost of living crisis and the U.K. inflation outlook.
