Global stocks rose across the board, with the S&P 500 hitting a new high as the US Federal Reserve began its monetary policy meeting. Meanwhile, global crude oil prices hit a five-month high, while gold prices fell.
Global stocks rose across the board on March 19, with the S&P 500 hitting a new high. After a positive session on European exchanges, all three major Wall Street indexes rose despite a gloomy start. At the close of trading in New York, the Dow Jones rose 0.8% to 39,110.76 points; the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to a record high of 5,178.51 points; while the Nasdaq rose 0.4% to 16,166.79 points.
On the other side of the Atlantic, key stock indices including the FTSE 100 (UK), CAC 40 (France), DAX (Germany) also increased, with the CAC 40 increasing the most (0.7%). The survey showed that the confidence of German investors increased more than expected, which was a factor supporting stocks across Europe.
On the same day, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) began a two-day meeting to discuss interest rate policy. Although investors expect interest rates to fall at some point this year, recent US economic data reports show that inflation in the country is still uncertain, leading to the risk that the FED will have difficulty reaching a consensus on starting to loosen monetary policy from next June as investors expect.
Earlier, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) decided to raise its overnight lending rate to 0% - 0.1%, up slightly from minus 0.1% - 0%, ending the aggressive monetary easing policy the bank has applied since 2016 to stimulate lending. With this move, the BoJ became the last major monetary authority in the world to abandon the negative interest rate policy. Even if the BoJ eventually raises interest rates, investors still hope the Fed will cut interest rates, said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
On the same day, world crude oil prices rose to a five-month high for the second consecutive session, as traders assessed the impact of recent attacks on Russian oil refineries on global supplies. On Wall Street, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices rose 75 US cents (0.9%) to close at $83.47 a barrel - the highest level since October 27. On London's market, North Sea Brent crude oil prices rose 0.6% to $87.38 a barrel - the highest level since October 31.
Meanwhile, in the precious metals market, the price of gold for April 2024 delivery decreased by 4.6 USD (0.21%), closing at 2,159.7 USD/ounce, near the lowest level in a week recorded in the previous session.
LAM DIEN
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