London — World stocks were battling to avoid a second day of declines on Thursday as hints of rising inflation led by a one-year high in oil prices and the strongest copper prices in nearly a decade kept traders in check after a boisterous run-up.
Wall Street futures were stuck in the red, though, and most of Asia’s indices had dipped overnight. China returned from its Lunar New Year holiday to the sight of its central bank draining 260-billion yuan from money markets, raising concern about backdoor policy tightening. “The clear theme right now is the reflation rotations and gyrations in markets all over the place,” said Arnab Das, Invesco’s global market strategist.
A deep freeze in Texas has continued to drive up oil prices, as the unusually cold weather hampers output in the largest US crude-producing state.