Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Tuesday, June 20:
1. BOE's Carney dashes hope of a rate hike
The British pound dropped to a one-week low and took out the $1.27-level on Tuesday after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said now was not the time to raise interest rates, dashing some investors' hopes that the central bank had shifted in that direction.
In a rescheduled speech to bankers at Mansion House in London, Carney said weak wage growth raised questions about the strength of domestic inflationary pressures, and he was unsure how the economy would respond to talks between the U.K. government and the rest of European Union on the terms of their separation.
The pound hit intraday lows against major rivals on the dovish remarks, with cable falling as far as 1.2670 against the dollar. GBP/USD was last at 1.2688 in New York morning trade, down around 0.4%.
2. More Fed speakers in focus
Market players will focus on a pair of Federal Reserve speakers on Tuesday, as they look for more clues on future monetary policy moves.
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren speaks at 8:15AM ET (1215GMT) at the DNB-Riksbank Macroprudential Conference Series meeting in Amsterdam. Later in the day, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will speak in San Francisco at the Commonwealth Club of California at 3:00PM ET (1900GMT).
Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer did not address the outlook for U.S. monetary policy or the economy when he spoke in Amsterdam earlier in the day.
Hawkish remarks made by influential New York Fed Chief William Dudley on Monday reinforced expectations for the Fed to keep raising interest rates.
The dollar reached a more than three-week high of 111.79 versus the yen in overnight trade, before falling back to 111.63, up roughly 0.1% (USD/JPY).
Against a basket of six major currencies, the dollar rose to as high as 97.31 at one point on Tuesday. It last traded at 97.23, little changed on the day.
3. Speaker Paul Ryan renews push for U.S. tax reform
The top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives vowed on Tuesday to complete tax reform in 2017, saying that President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress cannot allow the chance to overhaul the U.S. tax code to slip.
In remarks for a speech to U.S. manufacturers released by his office, House Speaker Paul Ryan said that Congress and the Trump administration are moving "full speed ahead" to deliver fundamental tax reform for individuals, corporations and small businesses.
"We are going to get this done in 2017. We need to get this done in 2017. We cannot let this once-in-a-generation moment slip," Ryan said in remarks prepared for a Tuesday afternoon speech to the National Association of Manufacturers, a powerful Washington lobby group.
4. Global stocks hover at record levels
Global stock markets hovered around record-high levels on Tuesday, as investors bet on solid growth in the economy and corporate profits globally.
On Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures pointed to a gain of 9 points, or roughly 0.2%, at the open, the blue-chip Dow futures rose 12 points, or less than 0.1%, while the S&P 500 futures ticked up 1 point.
In Europe, stocks headed for their best three-day rise since April, with Germany's DAX, France's CAC and Britain's FTSE firmly in the green in mid-morning trade, boosted by gains in media shares.
Earlier, Asian shares ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei rising to a near two-year high, while mainland Chinese stocks ended lower ahead of MSCI's decision on the potential inclusion of China A-shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
5. Oil price sink to lowest since November
Oil prices tumbled to their lowest level since November on Tuesday, as concerns over a glut in the market continued to batter sentiment.
U.S. oil was at $43.63 a barrel, down 82 cents, or around 1.8%, after falling to its lowest since November 15 at $43.45 earlier in the session.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for August delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London slumped 85 cents to $46.06 a barrel. The global benchmark touched an intraday low of $45.89, a level not seen since November 15.
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.