Stocks and oil rose while bond yields eased on Wednesday as risk appetite returned, despite fears about rising cases of the Delta coronavirus variant worldwide and lingering concerns over inflation that had prompted an earlier flight to safety.
With a key European Central Bank meeting on Thursday expected to strike a dovish tone and provide a further boost, the benchmark STOXX index of the region's 600 largest shares rose 0.2per cent and U.S. stocks looked positive with S&P 500 futures up 0.49per cent.Stocks could receive a further uplift later Wednesday if U.S. President Joe Biden's US$1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill can navigate a planned procedural vote despite Republican appeals for delay.
Sterling meanwhile shrugged off Britain's demand for a new deal from the European Union to govern post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, climbing 0.38per cent to US$1.3678. As well as looking past those rising cases, investors seemed to ease on concerns that data last week showing a surge in U.S. consumer prices in June could prompt the Federal Reserve to bring a quicker end to emergency stimulus measures.That earlier flight to safe havens had pushed U.S. 10-year yield down more than 20 basis points in the space of a week, but they edged up on Wednesday to 1.2817per cent.