Seoul Gazette - Nasdaq ends bruising January on a positive note

After a sluggish morning, major US indices picked up momentum throughout Monday, ultimately rising for the second straight session following a mixed day in Europe.

Bolstered by Amazon, Facebook parent Meta and other tech titans, the Nasdaq finished at 14,239.88, up 3.4 percent for the day but down nine percent for the month.

"There weren't any specific macro catalysts today," said Briefing.com. "Instead, the market received support from month-end rebalancing activity that disproportionately benefited growth stocks after a dismal January."

In Europe, both Paris and Frankfurt ended higher but London dipped.

"There's no shortage of risk events for the markets this week with rate decisions from the Bank of England and the ECB (European Central Bank), the US jobs report and a slew of earnings," noted Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.

Recent weeks have seen upheaval across world markets as the Federal Reserve readies to withdraw the vast financial support put in place at the start of the pandemic, which has fueled a nearly two-year equity rally.

"The markets have been roiled by concerns about stubborn inflation pressures and expectations that the Fed will have to be aggressive with its monetary policy tightening campaign," said analysts at Charles Schwab brokerage.

Observers debate the Fed's likely moves as US inflation sits at a four-decade high, with some saying it could hike up to seven times before 2023, with an initial 50 basis point move in March.

The Bank of England is widely expected to increase its main interest rate by a quarter-point Thursday to 0.5 percent.

That follows its decision in December to increase borrowing costs from a record-low 0.1 percent to 0.25 percent to combat decades-high inflation.

This week sees also an ECB policy update.

Its chief Christine Lagarde has downplayed inflation concerns, arguing that the forces pushing up prices across the eurozone are expected to ease over 2022.

Official data released Monday showed the eurozone economy grew 5.2 percent last year after a pandemic-induced recession. Meanwhile, although German inflation slowed in January, it still came in higher than expected and will likely put more pressure on the ECB to react.

- Key figures around 2150 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 1.2 percent at 35,131.86 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 1.9 percent at 4,515.55 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: UP 3.4 precent at 14,239.88 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 7,464.37 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 15,471.20 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 6,999.20 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.9 percent at 4,174.60 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 27,001.98 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.1 percent at 23,802.26 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: Closed for a holiday

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1235 from $1.1151 Friday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3445 from $1.3401

Euro/pound: UP at 83.54 pence from 83.22 pence

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 115.13 yen from 115.26 yen

Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.3 percent at $91.26 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.5 percent at $88.15 per barrel

burs-jmb/cs

D. Fjodorow--BTZ