NEW YORK/ LONDON, Feb 29 (Reuters) - A global equity index advanced on Thursday after a much anticipated U.S. inflation reading provided little surprise for relieved investors and helped push U.S. Treasury yields lower.
Wall Street indexes rebounded after falling in the previous session on investor jitters ahead of the U.S. personal consumer expenditures (PCE) price index, which showed the annual increase in inflation was the smallest in nearly three years, keeping a June interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve on the table.
Since PCE is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the lack of an upside surprise helped fuel hopes for rate cuts starting in June. Investors had been particularly anxious ahead of the PCE data after the most recent consumer price index (CPI) and the producer price index (PPI) data were hotter than expected.
"Markets are actually heaving a bit of a sigh of relief that we didn't get the same type of upside surprises we saw in the earlier inflation readings," said Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones in New York.
At 11:29 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab fell 2.49 points, or 0.00%, to 38,948.21, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab gained 7.87 points, or 0.21%, to 5,079.99 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 53.21 points, or 0.34%, to 16,002.51.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS), opens new tab rose 1.45 points, or 0.19%, to 759.58. The STOXX 600 (.STOXX), opens new tab index rose 0.12%, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index (.FTEU3), opens new tab rose 2.03 points, or 0.10%.
Earlier European readings showed German inflation remaining on a downward trajectory, while French consumer prices rose at a slower pace but slightly higher than forecasts.
It was a similar picture in Spain, where annual inflation dropped but was in line with expectations.
In U.S. Treasuries, yields fell after the inflation data boosted expectations that the Fed will start rate cuts in June.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 4.3 basis points to 4.231%, from 4.274% late on Wednesday. The 30-year bond yield fell 4.6 basis points to 4.3636% while the 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 2.7 basis points to 4.6208%.
In currencies, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, regained some ground after earlier easing following the data, which soothed worries that price pressures could be seeing a renewed uptick.
Its biggest decline was against the yen after a Bank of Japan (BOJ) official hinted at the need to exit ultra-easy monetary policies there. Against the Japanese yen , the dollar pared some losses and was last down 0.56% at 149.82 yen.
The dollar index gained 0.14% at 104.06, with the euro down 0.26% at $1.0808. The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.05% versus the greenback at 1.36 per dollar.
Also in focus was bitcoin , which was up 2.77% on the day at $62,229.00 and eyeing its biggest monthly gain in more than three years.
Investors are also waiting to see whether it can return to its late 2021 record high of just under $69,000.
The approval and launch of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. this year has opened the asset class to new investors and reignited the excitement that was sapped when prices collapsed in the "crypto winter" of 2022.
In commodities, oil prices were up slightly after the U.S. data following Wednesday's choppy session and concerns about a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude stockpiles.
U.S. crude gained 0.43% to $78.97 a barrel and Brent rose to $83.76 per barrel, up 0.1% to on the day.
In precious metals, gold scaled a one-month high, boosted by the dollar decline as traders switched their attention from the inflation data and to wait for commentary from Fed officials.
Spot gold added 0.5% to $2,044.79 an ounce. U.S. gold futures gained 0.75% to $2,048.30 an ounce.
Reporting by Sinéad Carew, Marc Jones, Kevin Buckland, editing by Kirsten Donovan, William Maclea
