By Harry Robertson and Wayne Cole
LONDON/SYDNEY (Reuters) -Global equities were little changed on Monday as investors waited for key U.S. and European inflation data later in the week, while gold hit a six-month high as the dollar fell.
MSCI’s index of world stocks was last down 0.04% after climbing for four straight weeks and notching a gain of around 8.7% this month.
Europe’s STOXX 600 index was last 0.15% lower, while Germany’s Dax stock index was down 0.19% and Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.3%. Futures on the S&P 500 index were 0.15% lower.
Global stocks have surged in recent weeks as bond yields dropped, with cooling inflation in developed economies boosting investors’ expectations that central banks are finished raising interest rates and might soon be cutting them.
“The (U.S. Federal Reserve) minutes came out (last week) and revealed what everyone already knew: which is that, at least at the moment, they’re done or are on pause… and as a result stocks and bonds are both rallying,” said Duncan MacInnes, investment director at investment company Ruffer.
“We’ve had about 500 basis points of interest rate rises forced through… do we really think that won’t have any consequences? That seems to be what market is saying.”
Investors were looking ahead to Thursday’s release of the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation and euro zone consumer inflation figures, which could give markets direction after last week’s Thanksgiving lull.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is due to address the European Parliament on Monday.
“It’s been a quiet day, maybe people are consolidating a bit,” said Julian Howard, a multi-asset investment director at asset manager GAM.
Howard said he currently prefers to invest in cash-like funds with high yields rather than take big bets on stocks or bonds.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, which influences borrowing costs around the world, was last down 1 basis point at 4.470%. It has fallen sharply since hitting a 16-year high above 5% in October. Yields move inversely to prices.
With U.S. market interest rates falling, the dollar index has slid more than 3% in November. The gauge, which tracks the dollar against six peers, was trading 0.16% lower on Monday at 103.27.
Gold has benefited from the dollar’s slide, hitting a six-month high of $2,017.82 per ounce on Monday. Spot gold last traded up 0.52% at $2,012.39. Investor worries about the Israel-Hamas conflict have also boosted the precious metal.
Oil prices slipped on Monday, with Brent down 1.08% to $79.70 a barrel and U.S. crude 1.16% lower at $74.65 per barrel.
The oil market faces a tense few days ahead of a meeting of OPEC+ on Nov. 30, where member countries will try to agree on supply curbs into 2024. It was originally slated for Sunday but was postponed as producers struggled to find a unanimous position. [O/R]
Germany’s 10-year bond yield was down 6 basis points at 2.589%, well below a 12-year high of 3.024% hit in early October. The euro was last up 0.13% at $1.0947.
Inflation data for Germany is due out on Wednesday ahead of the euro zone release.
(Reporting by Harry Robertson in London and Wayne Cole in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates, Ed Osmond and Chizu Nomiyama)
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