European stocks lost ground on Friday, putting them on course for weekly declines, as signs of persistent U.S. price pressures and a recovering euro zone economy dashed hopes of several interest rate cuts from major central banks this year.
The U.S. dollar edged lower in early European trade Friday, but was still on course for its largest weekly rise in over a month on fading expectations of early Federal Reserve rate cuts.
Oil prices were stable on Friday as investors considered the latest comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve on interest rates amid sticky inflation, while signs of firming seasonal U.S. fuel demand lent support.
Bitcoin price fell on Friday, pulling back even further from highs hit earlier in the week as concerns over high for longer U.S. interest rates largely offset a key development in the U.S. approval of exchange-traded funds that directly track Ether.
The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Fujikura Ltd. (TYO:5803), which rose 4.88% or 149.00 points to trade at 3,205.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Shiseido Co., Ltd. (TYO:4911) added 4.22% or 203.00 points to end at 5,018.00 and DIC Corp (TYO:4631) was up 3.82% or 121.00 points to 3,292.00 in late trade.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to underlying strength in the labor market that should continue to support the economy.
Bank of America (BofA) released its currency market forecast, projecting the EUR-USD exchange rate to reach 1.12 by the end of the year. The bank’s analysts expect the majority of the euro’s appreciation to occur in the second half of the year, positioning their forecast above the consensus estimate of 1.08 for 2024.
Oil prices crept up on Thursday, clawing back some of the previous three days’ losses despite the U.S. Federal Reserve entertaining a further tightening of interest rates if inflation remains sticky, a move that could hurt oil demand.
Bitcoin price moved marginally on Thursday as a recent rally in cryptocurrencies, on hype over a potential spot Ether exchange-traded fund, was largely undermined by renewed fears of high U.S. interest rates.
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Holding said on Thursday it would sell $4.5 billion in convertible senior notes and plans to repurchase American Depositary Shares using some of the proceeds.
