Tom Westbrook's European and global market outlook. After weeks of optimism, Asia markets fell on Wednesday as traders took losses and awaited Fed Chair Jerome Powell's congressional appearance.
Powell is anticipated to maintain his hawkish tone and reiterate that policymakers aren't cutting rates quickly.
Tuesday's mixed U.S. economic data—slower services growth but higher new goods orders—clouded rate policy. Overnight gold and bitcoin moves to record highs indicate investor uneasiness with inflation and debt pushing them into scarce assets.
According to ANZ analysts, central banks' share of world gold demand has nearly tripled to 25-30%, some due to bond portfolio losses.
On Tuesday, spot gold reached $2,141 an ounce and traded around $2,124 in Asia on Wednesday. Bitcoin dropped below $60,000 after breaking $69,000. Bank of America said $1 trillion in U.S. debt growth per 100 days is forcing investors into "debt debasement" trades like gold and bitcoin.
Investors in Asia saw little in China's latest growth and policy plans to change their skepticism over a sluggish market for years. Hong Kong equities rose as mainland stocks fell.
Market bets that Australian interest rates will fall were reinforced by December quarter GDP growth slowing to a crawl.
Trump defeated Nikki Haley in Republican presidential primary contests in several states and advanced to a rematch with Joe Biden. The Eurozone After a significant drop in December, experts forecast solid January retail sales.
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