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By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- Federal Reserve speakers continue to comment on monetary policy, Hong Kong's 'Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Daily' pro-democracy newspaper closes under Chinese government pressure, Bitcoin rebounds above $30,000, PMI numbers and U.S. crude inventories. Here's what's moving markets on Wednesday, June 23rd.
1. Fedspeak continues
Fedspeak is on the menu again Wednesday, with FOMC members Michelle Bowman, Eric Rosengren and Raphael Bostic all slated to speak at events throughout the day.
These speakers will all attract the attention of the market after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified Tuesday in front of U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill, playing down concerns about rising prices, maintaining his view that the country’s surging inflation would be transitory.
Additionally, New York Fed president John Williams,one of the more influential members of the Fed's rate-setting committee, stated that more progress is needed before the Fed begins to scale back its bond buying.
This has calmed nerves that were rattled last week after Fed officials brought forward their expectations of when the central bank will need to increase interest rates to stop the U.S. economy overheating.
Globally, monetary policy is still facing mixed conditions, with the Thai central bank lowering its growth outlook due to weak incoming tourism. However, in Europe, the Czech National Bank is expected to follow the National Bank of Hungary, which on Tuesday became the first central bank in the European Union to lift interest rates since the pandemic began..
2. Stocks higher ahead of PMI data
U.S. stocks are seen opening moderately higher Wednesday, continuing to benefit from Fed Chair Powell's downplaying of the risk of an early move to tighter monetary policy.
By 6:20 AM ET, Dow Jones futures were up 30 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 futures were less than 0.1% higher and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.1%.
The main equity indices closed higher Tuesday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining nearly 0.2%, the broad-based S&P 500 rising 0.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperforming, climbing 0.8%, for a new record close.
The data slate centers around the release of the June U.S. PMI numbers, with the releases set to confirm a strongly recovering economy.
The equivalent numbers in Europe earlier Wednesday showed Eurozone business growth accelerated at its fastest pace in 15 years this month, helped by reopening that boosted the region’s dominant services sector.
3. Apple Daily to close in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper is set to close at the end of this week, after concerted pressure by the authorities on the paper and its owner Jimmy Lai.