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Wall Street stocks flat
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Benchmark 10-year yields fall
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U.S. dollar gains, gold drops
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Oil prices shed 2%
(Updates prices, adds more background)
By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Global equities and U.S.
Treasury yields were lower on Wednesday as investors awaited the
release of the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes that are
expected to shed light on the trajectory of interest rates.
The Fed minutes from the Jan.31 to Feb.1 meeting are set to
be published at 2 pm ET (1900 GMT), and will give traders some
detail into the debate over how much further interest rates may
need to be hiked to curb inflation.
The meeting preceded recent strong economic data that
demonstrated the resilience of the U.S. economy and heightened
worries of a longer rate-tightening cycle.
"The minutes are a little bit outdated because of the data
that came out after the Fed discussion but people will be
parsing through it to see if there's any disagreement on the
path forward for rates," said Moustapha Mounah, portfolio
manager at James Investments in Dayton, Ohio.
The MSCI world equity index , which tracks
shares in 50 countries, was down 0.20%. European stocks shed 0.33%.
Wall Street stocks were choppy ahead of the Fed's minutes,
with the three main indexes mostly flat as gains in consumer
discretionary and industrials shares were offset by weak demand
for technology equities.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.22% to
33,201.02, the S&P 500 gained 0.23% to 4,006.62 and the
Nasdaq Composite added 0.37% to 11,534.50.
U.S. Treasury yields retreated after surging to three-month
highs. Benchmark 10-year yields were lower at
3.9059%.
"The bond market has already priced in more rate hikes but
the stock market hasn't repriced to reflect all of the movement
in the rates," Mounah added.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who is a non-voting
member of the Fed's rate-setting committee this year, on
Wednesday reiterated his view that a Fed policy rate in the
range of 5.25% to 5.5% would be adequate to bring inflation
towards the central bank's 2% goal.
The U.S. Treasury yield curve that measures the gap between
yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes , seen as
an indicator of economic expectations, remained deeply inverted
at minus 77.40 basis points.
"If the most hawkish guy, who is a non-voting member is at a
75 basis point hike, then maybe the consensus is 50 basis points
and that is a little lower than the market," said Thomas Hayes,
chairman at Great Hill Capital in New York.
The U.S. dollar gained due to the unexpected strength of the
American economy revealed in recent economic data,
notwithstanding interest rate hikes by the Fed. The dollar index rose 0.125%, while the euro was down 0.15% to
$1.063.
Oil prices fell 2% on growing concerns over oil demand as the
Fed aims to keep hiking rates to reduce surging consumer prices.
Brent crude futures for April delivery were down 2.14%
to $81.27 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
crude futures dropped by 2.36% to $74.56 a barrel.
Gold prices fell as the U.S. dollar gained. Spot gold dropped 0.1% to $1,832.40 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures fell 0.01% to $1,832.80 an ounce.
(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; Editing by Chris Reese
and Sharon Singleton)
