Fears of aggressive rate hikes continue as FOMC meeting showed a move to a restrictive policy is necessary.

Wall Street’s equity indexes tipped slightly higher during a volatile Wednesday trading session whilst the dollar edged a little lower. Investors digest minutes from the latest Fed meeting and continue waiting for the US inflation data due tomorrow. 

FOMC minutes showed on Wednesday that Fed members came to an agreement where they need to switch to a more restrictive policy stance which they can maintain for a period of time (investing.com). This is so it meets the US central bank’s aim of reducing inflation. 

Furthermore, the US dollar climbed to a fresh 24-year peak against the yen, beating expectations which in turn led to Japan stepping up and creating action. The pound regained balance after falling in the previous day as investors monitor BoE’s next steps. Globally equity markets have been volatile due to increased fears of further aggressive hikes by central banks (investing.com).

Oil is down 7% on week due to US inflation. Three days of constant selling since last week’s bullish run has put more pressure on crude markets as unpleasant US inflation data leads to more fears of Fed rate hikes (Bloomberg.com). Today, the OPEC reduced up to 2.64 million barrels per day from its demand. However, OPEC still expects demand growth to be stronger this year and the next despite the forecasts from IEA (international energy agency) (Bloomberg.com). 

Final key notes from the day:

• The PPI for final demand risen 0.4% from August, first increase in 3 months and more than expected. Suggests inflationary pressure will take time to stabilise (investing.com). 

• PepsiCO Inc shares rose by 3.9% after the snack and beverage producer raised its position for the year and exceeded expectations on profit and revenue, announcing that the company was successfully able to increase prices (cnbc.com). 

• Wipro released quarter 3 EPS of $0.06, matching investors predictions of $0.06. Revenue for Q3 came in at $2.8 billion against the expectation of $2.79 billion (cnbc.com).