The interest rate on the US ten-year government bond was 3.4 percentage points higher in six and a half countries at the time of Finland, while the interest rate on the two-year loan was 2.0 percentage points lower. The interest rate on the three-year loan was also decreasing, while the others were increasing.
The market’s belief that the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates again at the December meeting has weakened significantly during the current week.
The mood is dampened by various economic indicators as well as by the head of the Fed Jerome Powell speech in Dallas on Thursday.
Powell coldly stated that the US economy has so far given no signals that the Fed should rush to cut interest rates.
According to Friday’s statistics, retail sales in the United States grew by 0.4 percent from the previous month in October, while expectations were for a 0.3 percent increase. The pace slowed down from the previous month, when growth accumulated by 0.8 percent.
Retail sales growth was primarily sustained by cars. Excluding car sales, retail sales growth fell short of the forecast 0.3 percent to 0.1 percent. In September, it grew by 1.0 percent.
The Empire Manufacturing Index compiled by the Regional Central Bank of New York shows how confident New York State manufacturers are about future business conditions.
The US Empire Manufacturing index jumped to 31.2 points for November, while the consensus forecast collected by Bloomberg expected it to rise to zero from -11.9 points the previous month.
The Empire index is known for its mercurial movements and large monthly swings are not very unusual. However, the positive score now indicates that producers expect conditions to improve from the current ones.
US industrial production contracted in October by 0.3 percent from the previous month. There was a 0.4 percent decrease in expectations, while the previous month it decreased by 0.5 percent. As expected, the industrial capacity utilization rate was 77.1 percent, while it was 77.4 percent in September.
In the euro area, interest rates on government bonds were mainly on the rise. The interest rate on Germany’s ten-year bond was up 1.2 percentage points, and the interest rate on its two-year bond was up 2.5 points.
On the foreign exchange market, the Japanese yen strengthened across the board compared to other major currencies. The British pound weakened against all others. Regarding the euro and the dollar, the development varied for different currencies.
At 5:45 p.m., the euro fetched 1.05 dollars, 0.83 pounds and 11.60 Swedish kronor. The dollar gave 0.95 euros, 0.79 pounds and 155.11 yen.
Source: www.arvopaperi.fi
