HONG KONG—Asian stock markets and the U.S. dollar struggled for traction on Friday after a rush of central bank meetings underlined the growing threat posed by a spike in global inflation, while fears about the Omicron variant of COVID-19 added to a cautious mood. The dollar index was trading at 95.999, off nearly 1 percent since Wednesday’s high immediately after the Federal Reserve announced it would accelerate tapering of its emergency bond buying program and prepare to raise rates more quickly next year. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was at 1.4275 percent, the lower end of their recent range, while the two-year yield, was at 0.6330 percent also having rolled off its recent highs. “Ordinarily, in the wake of a more hawkish FOMC outcome, yields would be expected to rise in anticipation of the Fed tightening cycle,” said analysts at Westpac in a morning note, referring to the …
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