Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Tuesday, June 27:
1. Markets await comments from Fed Chair Yellen
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is due to speak about global economic issues at the British Academy's 2017 President's Lecture in London at 1:00PM ET (1700GMT). Audience questions are expected.
Her comments will be monitored closely for any new insight on policy and the timing of when the Fed will next raise interest rates. The Fed chair could be asked about the U.S. central bank's plan to start shrinking its massive balance sheet, which ballooned to $4.5 trillion in wake of the financial crisis.
Besides Yellen, a pair of Fed policymakers are due to make public appearances on Tuesday that may offer further insight into the debate among policymakers on the likelihood of higher interest rates in the months ahead.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker is set to speak about the economic outlook and international trade at the European Economics & Financial Centre, in London, while Minneapolis Fed Chief Neel Kashkari will speak at a town hall event in Michigan.
Futures traders are pricing in less than a 15% chance of a hike at the Fed's September meeting, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool. Odds of a December increase was seen at about 35%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, edged down almost 0.5% to 96.64 in early New York trade, its lowest since June 15.
2. Hawkish Draghi sends euro to 2-week highs
The euro rose to the day’s highs after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said there are clear signs of a “strengthening and broadening” recovery underway in the euro zone area.
Draghi said the ECB sees growth that is above trend and well distributed across the euro area, but reiterated that “a considerable degree” of stimulus is still needed in the euro zone, and that the ECB must be “prudent” in how it unwinds it.
He added that the factors weighing on the path of inflation were mainly temporary, adding that deflationary forces are being replaced by inflationary ones.
The comments came during the keynote speech at the ECB’s central banking forum in Portugal.
The euro rose around 0.6% against the dollar to trade at 1.1253, the highest level since June 14 (EUR/USD). The euro was also higher against the yen and the pound, with EUR/GBP advancing 0.4% to 0.8824 and EUR/JPY gaining 0.4% to 125.59.
3. BoE orders banks to boost capital
The Bank of England has told British banks they will have to set aside more than £11 billion in extra capital to cover potential losses in the event of a financial downturn.
In its financial stability report released earlier, the BoE raised the counter-cyclical capital buffer rate to 0.5% from zero, which means that lenders must set aside 0.5% of their assets as capital to cover potential losses if the economy weakens.
Speaking following the release of the report, BoE Governor Mark Carney said raising buffer rates along with recent MPC action will support the U.K. economy during the period of heightened uncertainty surrounding Brexit negotiations.
The pound was slightly higher against the dollar at 1.2735 (GBP/USD).
4. Oil rises for 4th day in a row
Oil futures advanced, putting crude on track for its fourth up session in a row, as investors looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on stockpiles of crude and refined products.
Industry group the American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report at 4:30PM ET (2030GMT) later on Tuesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock drop of around 2.2 million barrels.
U.S. crude was at $43.80 a barrel, up 42 cents, or around 1%, while Brent oil tacked on 55 cents, or 1.2%, to $46.59 a barrel.
5. EU slaps Google with record €2.4 billion fine
The European Commission has fined Google €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) for breaching EU antitrust rules after regulators concluded the first stage of their three-pronged probe into the world's most popular search engine.
The fine, which targets the company's shopping business, is the largest doled out by Brussels for a monopoly abuse case and follows a seven-year-long investigation into Google's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) practices.
Investigations were triggered after the European Commission received dozens of complaints from U.S. and European competitors, who claimed that the company abused its search market dominance to give its Google Shopping service an advantage over other retailers and create a monopoly over consumers.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares were down 1.3% to $940 in pre-market action, down from a closing price of $952.27 a day earlier.