Markets mixed, Fed rate hikes “no time soon”

Markets were mixed on Thursday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.9 percent.

However, the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.7 percent and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.8 percent.

US president-elect Joe Biden unveiled his stimulus plan in a speech on Thursday night that includes sending additional US$1,400 payments to Americans following the US$600 second stimulus checks that were recently deployed.

While additional fiscal stimulus raises the prospects for higher interest rates, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Thursday that the time for the Fed to raise interest rates “is no time soon”.

Another encouraging news for investors came on Wednesday when trial data showed that Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose COVID-19 vaccine is safe and generates a promising immune response.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer raised the possibility that the vaccines bring the pandemic under control sometime this year, suggesting that the “market has not priced it in”.