Monday’s Market Update I 05-Feb-2024

The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to keep interest rates unchanged in the upcoming Tuesday meeting.

Recent nonfarm payroll data indicates that the U.S. job market is performing better than anticipated, giving the Federal Reserve more flexibility to uphold higher interest rates for a longer period.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, in a CBS interview, emphasized that there are no plans to cut interest rates in the short term.

On Monday, oil prices rebounded from last week’s sharp declines, driven by concerns about increased tensions in the Middle East following U.S. airstrikes and Ukrainian drone attacks on the largest Russian refinery.

This week’s key events on the U.S. economic calendar include the ISM services PMI for January on Monday and the initial jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday.

The S&P 500 reached a new high on Friday after the jobs data, propelled by the rising shares of Meta Platforms and Amazon.