| schema:articleBody
| - European stock markets and the Dow in New York rose Tuesday following a mixed showing in Asia, as traders braced for the start of a key Federal Reserve interest-rate meeting. With inflation surging as countries emerge from coronavirus lockdowns, markets are wondering if central banks will raise interest rates sooner than expected, which in turn could hamper economic recovery according to analysts. With that in mind, the Fed's two-day meeting -- and boss Jerome Powell's comments following Wednesday's conclusion -- are firmly in the spotlight. Several observers have warned that the Fed's pledge to avoid tightening rates until US unemployment is tamed and inflation is running persistently hot could backfire if the economy overheats, which could force it to tighten borrowing costs at a sharper pace. "We're in a tug-of-war between the understanding that we're having great economic growth and great earnings growth juxtaposed with the fact that we need to get our head wrapped around what inflation looks like," said Art Hogan, chief strategist at National Securities. XTB market analyst Walid Koudmani added: "While other central banks, including the ECB, have decided to remain cautious, it remains to be seen if the Fed will finally react to the signs coming from consumers by adjusting its policy, or if it will once again remain on the sidelines." On the digital currency front, bitcoin held a little over $40,000 after Elon Musk said that Tesla would start accepting the unit again once it is mined more ecologically. Marc Odo of Swan Global Investments commented that "these days, bitcoin's market pivots on what Elon Musk tweets -- for me, that's not a great indicator. It's like some billionaire's whim. "I don't think there's anything fundamentally moving bitcoin one way or the other, other than rumours and tweets. That's not an asset class I want to be involved with." Oil prices climbed as demand optimism overshadowed virus infection concerns, with both main crude contracts around multi-year highs. "That oil has rallied so significantly in the face of notable US dollar strength suggests the rally has plenty left in it," said OANDA's Jeffrey Halley. With crude prices in the US currency, dollar strength can make it more expensive to purchase for holders of rival units. London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 7,173.87 points Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.5 percent at 15,748.22 Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 6,647.61 EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.4 percent at 4,150.44 New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 34,341.80 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.0 percent at 29,441.30 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.7 percent at 28,638.53 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.9 percent at 3,556.56 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.2118 from $1.2124 at 2050 GMT Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.4083 from $1.4107 Euro/pound: UP at 86.04 pence from 85.91 pence Dollar/yen: UP at 110.13 yen from 110.08 yen Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.7 percent at $73.60 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.2 percent at $71.70 per barrel dan-bcp/wai/tgb
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)