By Connor Campbell, Financial Analyst, Spreadex
An earlier than expected Jackson Hole address from Janet Yellen sent the dollar lower this Friday.
Brought forward by 2 hours, the Federal Reserve chief’s speech, perhaps unsurprisingly, failed to comment on the central bank’s future monetary policy plans. That absence itself was seen as dollar-negative and further softened up the currency, which had already been hit by an awful durable goods orders reading.
With the greenback feeling grim, the pound and euro could take half a percent off the currency apiece, in turn allowing the Dow Jones to post a rather sizeable rise, jumping 100 points to within touching distance of 21900.
Elsewhere the FTSE was hampered by sterling’s gains – the pound also rose 0.1% against the euro – meaning the UK index could only climb 0.1% as the day went on. The DAX and CAC fared better, jumping 0.3% and 0.2% respectively despite the euro’s greenback growth.
Still to come is Mario Draghi’s own Jackson Hole speech, though like Yellen’s it is expected to be light on the kind of details investors are clamouring for. The ECB has let out plenty of hints suggesting Draghi isn’t going to announce anything resembling a hawkish shift during his evening talk, though it isn’t hard to imagine the markets being disappointed regardless.
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