London — World stocks’ return to record highs looked set to be delayed for another day on Thursday, as a stalemate in US stimulus talks, trade-war angst in both Europe and China, and the Covid-19 pandemic all reined the bulls back.
“Though people think things are getting better, there is still so much uncertainty,” said Louise Dudley, a portfolio manager at Federated Hermes in London. A sell-off in benchmark US government bond markets also eased, as investors digested the biggest ever 10-year US debt sale and some surprisingly strong US inflation figures.
“The volatility of yields is just a reality that we have to deal with at the moment.” said Brian Jacobsen, at Wells Fargo Asset Management. The Australian dollar nudged ahead too after better-than-expected jobs figures — though unemployment topping a million for the first time ever capped gains. Australia was also the outlier in regional equity markets, with selling of communications giant Telstra after a profit plunge dragging on the index.