Friday 30 October 2020

Markets mixed, ECB to respond “promptly” to COVID-19 second wave

Markets were mixed on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 1.2 percent but the STOXX Europe 600 dipped 0.1 percent and the Nikkei 225 fell 0.4 percent.

“The earnings season so far has resulted in significant positive earnings surprises,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.

The European Central Bank left interest rates and wider monetary policy unchanged at its monetary policy meeting on Thursday but hinted at more monetary stimulus in December.

“The Governing Council will carefully assess the incoming information, including the dynamics of the pandemic, prospects for a rollout of vaccines and developments in the exchange rate,” the ECB said in a statement.

Noting the rise in COVID-19 cases in Europe, ECB President Christine Lagarde said at a press conference after the meeting that the central bank had “responded very promptly...for the first wave; we will do it again for the second wave”.

Elsewhere, the Bank of Japan also left monetary policy unchanged on Thursday even as it revised its forecast of Japan's real GDP to show a 5.5 percent decline from a 4.7 percent fall in its previous projection.

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