Things you need to know today

[Belbaraka Nadir]

Things you need to know today

🏛The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it will begin trimming its monthly bond purchases in November with plans to end them in 2022, but held to its belief that high inflation would prove "transitory" and likely not require a fast rise in interest rates. However, the U.S. central bank nodded to global supply difficulties as adding to inflation risks, saying that those factors "are expected to be transitory," but would need to ease to deliver the anticipated drop in inflation. "As the pandemic subsides, supply-chain bottlenecks will abate and job growth will move back up," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a news conference after the release of the central bank's latest policy statement. "And that happens, inflation will decline from today's elevated levels. Of course, the timing of that is highly uncertain."

🎉The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched record all-time closes for their fifth straight sessions, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a record close for the fourth session in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29%, to 36,157.58, the S&P 500 gained 0.65%, to 4,660.57 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.04%, to 15,811.58. 

💲The dollar halted its slide on Thursday after losing ground the day before when the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would not rush to raise interest rates. The two accounted for many of the moves of the dollar index which rose 0.15% on Thursday after Wednesday's 0.25% fall. 

↔️While the pound was on edge ahead of a closely watched Bank of England meeting. Sterling, which had initially led the gains on the dollar after the Fed was last at $1.3660, down from its week high of $1.3698 hit in early Asian hours Thursday. Markets are pricing in a rate rise from the BoE, and a steady pace of rises in 2022, but economists polled by Reuters said it was too close to call, as Britain, like much of the world grapples with balancing rate rises to combat inflation with worries about the growth outlook. Minutes of BoE's Monetary Policy Committee meeting are due at 12.00 GMT.

🔻Oil prices extended declines on Thursday after Iran and world powers agreed to resume nuclear talks this month that could lead to the removal of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil, increasing global supplies. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slid for a third day to $80.18 a barrel. Brent crude futures for January fell for a second session to $81.57 a barrel, down 0.5%. OPEC+, will meet later on Thursday, and is expected to reconfirm plans to keep monthly supply increases steady despite calls for an acceleration.