A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan Global investors head to the half-year point this week trying to get across numerous political narratives, a hiccup in tech and a reopening of the transatlantic gap in business activity.
Throw in Friday's looming release of the Federal Reserve's favoured PCE inflation gauge and an ongoing slide in Japan's yen and China's yuan and it's a sparkier summer than the buoyant first-half world markets numbers might suggest. The shakeout in artificial intelligence torchbearer Nvidia last week, which saw its stocks recoil about 10% from new records by the end of the week, probably owes much to profit taking on its blistering rise - and perhaps also something to do with Friday's major futures and options expiries. But with the U.
S. presidential TV debate this Thursday likely to sound the starting gun on speculation around November's election outcome, the final week of the first half potentially ushers in a change of tone. Politics dominates in Europe too, with the first round of France's parliamentary election this weekend and as Britainheads to the polls on July 4.
So far on Monday at least, the electoral anxiety hasn't disturbed too much in markets. European stocks pushed higher, Britain's FTSE was up and U.S.
stock futures were marginally positive ahead of the bell. The VIX volatility gauge has crept to its highest of the month, however. That owes something to renewed interest rate cut hopes in Europe and in the Unite.
