Markets mixed, Fed to “sound prepared for further easing”

Markets were mixed on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent but the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.4 percent.

Earlier in Asia, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 percent but the Shanghai Composite rose 0.7 percent.

The Conference Board’s US consumer-confidence index fell to 92.6 in July from a revised 98.3 reading in June, a sign, according to economists Kathy Bostjancic and Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics, that “consumers, in the face of rising virus cases and a reversal in labor market gains, are becoming more cautious about the continued healing of the economy”.

Still, the Federal Reserve started its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday with analysts hopeful for more signs of policy easing.

“Even if tomorrow is unlikely to be the right moment for a more expansionary monetary policy approach, the Fed will no doubt sound prepared for further easing,” Commerzbank analysts told clients in a note.

The Fed on Tuesday announced that its board of governors had decided to extend until the end of the year several emergency loan programs that had been set to expire at the end of September.