U.S. stock futures faltered and the dollar was on the defensive on Wednesday, while bond prices rallied, as markets reacted to a U.S. presidential debate in which Vice President Kamala Harris put Republican Donald Trump on the defensive.
Harris’ late entry in the presidential race after President Joe Biden’s withdrawal in July has tightened the race, and her strong debate performance continued a reversal of trades that were put in place on expectations of a second Trump presidency. Investors were focusing on fiscal policies and plans for the economy from the candidates but the presidential debate was light on details, although betting markets swung in Harris’ favor after the event. In a boost to the Harris campaign, pop megastar Taylor Swift said she would back Harris in the Nov. 5 election.
The yen strengthened more than 1% to 140.71 per dollar, the highest since late December, boosted also by comments from Bank of Japan board member Junko Nakagawa. Investors are now focusing on the U.S. Labor Department’s consumer price index report later on Wednesday for policy clues, although the Federal Reserve has made it clear employment has taken on a greater focus than inflation.
“What we needed to see to spur the Fed into greater action would be much more obvious evidence of slowdown/recession, and in particular in the labor market. And I don’t think we saw that in the last payrolls report,” said ING’s Carnell.