World stocks edge above Nov 2020 lows, sterling recovers some ground

September 27, 2022 (MLN): World stocks picked up from 21-month lows on Tuesday and sterling rallied after hitting record lows versus the dollar a day earlier on UK plans for tax cuts, as market slides ran out of steam.

U.S. S&P futures ESc1 bounced 0.94% after Wall Street fell deeper into a bear market on Monday, benchmark 10-year Treasury yields dipped from the previous session's 12-year high and the dollar eased from 20-year highs on a basket of currencies.

Markets remain nervous, however, after U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Monday said their priority remained controlling domestic inflation.

"U.S. rate expectations have increased fairly significantly," said Andrew Hardy, investment manager at Momentum Global Investment Management, though he added that "there's a huge amount of bearishness already priced into markets".

Markets are pricing in a 76% probability of a further 75 basis point move at the next Federal Reserve meeting in November. 

Central bank speakers on Tuesday include Fed chair Jerome Powell and ECB president Christine Lagarde.

The MSCI world equity index rose 0.29% after hitting its lowest since Nov 2020 on Monday. European stocks gained more than 1% and Britain's FTSE .FTSE rose 0.6%.

Sterling collapsed to a record low $1.0327 on Monday as the government tax cut plans announced on Friday came on top of huge energy subsidies.

The British currency recovered 4.6% from that low to $1.0801 on Tuesday.

After the pound's plunge, the Bank of England said it would not hesitate to change interest rates and was monitoring markets "very closely".

Reuters