Stocks, US Futures Are Steady Before Fed Minutes: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — European stocks and US equity futures were steady as investors awaited the release of policy minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting for insights on the path of rate hikes.

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The Stoxx Europe 600 held near a three-month high, as basic resources and energy stocks gained. Credit Suisse Group AG dropped after warning of a fourth-quarter loss. Contracts on the S&P 500 edged higher after the underlying gauge closed at its highest level since Mid-September on Tuesday. Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed.

Shares in Manchester United Plc jumped in US premarket trading after the owners of the historic English football club said they were exploring options that could lead to a sale. An index of Asian shares rose. Market trading volumes are expected to be lighter, given the US Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.

A gauge of dollar strength pared declines, with New Zealand’s currency among the strongest performers against the greenback after the country’s central bank raised rates by the most on record. Ten-year US Treasury yields dropped by one basis point.

The publication of minutes from the Fed’s Nov. 1-2 meeting — due at 2 p.m. in Washington — will be studied for how united policymakers were over a higher peak for interest rates than previously signaled in their fight against inflation. Some investors anticipate that lower-than-estimated inflation figures could prompt the Fed to temper the size of its rate hikes as early as next month’s gathering.

“Since the meeting, the market has swung in its anticipation of what could happen in December, and this week’s minutes could help to confirm the Fed’s intent,” said economists at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg. “The risk to the markets from the minutes is that they appear less hawkish than expected, which could drive an unwind of some of the rate-hike risk repricing we saw at the end of last week.”

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European investors digested data showing that private-sector activity in Germany and France — the euro area’s top two economies — contracted…

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