While Beijing on Tuesday stopped short of announcing any concrete steps toward reopening the world's second-largest economy, it pledged to bolster vaccination among its senior citizens, a move regarded as crucial to ending the loop of harsh COVID Zero curbs. A spokesman for the National Health Commission also said local officials must avoid excessive restrictions.Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.5 per cent, with U.S.-listed Chinese stocks in particular rallying in premarket trading.
Many economists expect that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Wednesday will cement bets that the central bank will slow its pace of rate increases next month -- while reminding Americans that its fight against inflation will run into 2023. That view, alongside the easing in China tensions, knocked the dollar lower against a basket of peers, following two days of gains.
The hawkish drumbeat from central bankers is raising fears of a downturn, with global bonds joining US peers in signaling a recession, as a gauge measuring the worldwide yield curve inverted for the first time in at least two decades.