Saturday 26 June 2021

Markets rise, US inflation jumps

Markets rose on Friday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to a record high, the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.1 percent and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.7 percent.

A report in the US showed that the core personal consumption expenditures price index rose 3.4 percent in May from a year ago, the biggest increase since April 1992.

Some analysts were unperturbed by the report.

Anu Gaggar, senior global Investment analyst at Commonwealth Financial Network, said the report “provided support to the Fed’s argument that inflation is transitory” and “should continue to provide support to risk assets such as equities”.

In the meantime, COVID-19 remains a threat to the economy, with the World Health Organization on Friday urging fully vaccinated people to continue to wear masks, social distance and practice other pandemic safety measures.

Indeed, Israel, where about 55 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, on Friday reimposed mask requirement for all indoor settings except the home after COVID-19 infections more than quadrupled this week to 138 from outbreaks attributed to the Delta variant.

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