The dollar was headed for its best week in seven months on Friday after breaking through key levels against the euro as traders priced in a year of aggressive US interest rate hikes. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell unleashed bets on five or more hikes this year after he left the door open on Wednesday to raising rates faster than in previous cycles.Data showing the best annual US growth in nearly four decades didn't hurt either. Overnight the euro fell almost 0.
"We see a lot of potential in this space and are investing accordingly," said Cook, in response to a question about its plans for the metaverse, a broad term that generally refers to shared virtual world environments that people can access via the internet. Solid corporate earnings reports also helped this week, with several leading companies scoring higher profits despite ongoing pressures connected to Covid-19.In Europe, London overturned earlier losses to close 1.1 percent higher. Paris and Frankfurt likewise overcame early sluggishness to post modest gains by the close.Despite major markets moving back into the green, AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould sounded a note of caution regarding Powell's assessment.
Elsewhere, oil prices lost early momentum after benchmark European contract Brent closed in on $91 a barrel.It fell back under $90, having risen on Wednesday above that level for the first time in seven years owing to rising Ukraine-Russia tensions and falling US crude stockpiles. Despite the impact of the riots, Shoprite opened 57 new stores taking its total number of stores to 2 003, while it closed one OK store.In addition to South Africa, Shoprite has stores in Angola, Mozambique and Zambia. Sales in these countries increased by 8.4%. It did not open new stores in those markets, closing five instead, due to the disposal of its operations in Uganda.
The Fed concluded a two-day meeting on Wednesday and Fed chief Jerome Powell said the central bank was in a mind to begin hiking in March to tame inflation. "Also the Fed's mention the balance sheet has focused markets' mind on the withdrawal of stimulus."Foley added that a shake-out of overly long dollar positions earlier in the month had left the greenback in a position to react to the latest Fed signalling.Furniture retailer Lewis has seen sales growth of 12.7% in the nine months to end-December, despite pressure on consumer spending and civil unrest.
While its personal loans business Capfin saw an increase in its revenue and its credit book grew to R2 billion from R1.9 billion, its point-of-sale technology group FLASH saw a decline.“The group is satisfied with the trading performance during the first four months of the financial year and especially pleased with the growth rates achieved over the two-year period since the onset of COVID-19,” said Pepkor.
Kumba Iron Ore, in its quarterly production report said production grew by 9% in the quarter, reflecting the impact of Covid-19 in 2020 and improved plant reliability in 2021. “Investors appear to have become increasingly conscious of the risks that the Fed may end up cooling any economic growth with too much monetary tightening,” said Tomo Kinoshita, a global market strategist at Invesco Asset Management in Tokyo.
“The Fed tightening is also putting pressure on some central banks in Asia to follow through, and this could have some impact on the equity market.” Southeast Asian markets, which typically have low exposure to the tech sector, also fared better on Thursday, with the MSCI Asean Index down less than 1%.
Harmony’s South African production, meanwhile, remained steady in the second half of last year, while operational costs were in line with guidance, the gold miner said on Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee is all but certain to hold its benchmark rate near zero after the two-day meeting that ends Wednesday, while sticking to a plan to end its bond-buying program in March.
Spot gold declined 0.1% to $1,847.10 an ounce as of 10:12 a.m. in London, after rising to the highest intraday level since Nov. 19 on Tuesday. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was steady. Silver and platinum gained, while palladium rose to the highest since September.Microsoft beat market expectations Tuesday with strong quarterly performance in cloud computing and software, still benefitting from the pandemic's online shifting of work, play, shopping and learning.
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