Futures Drop, Await Fed

Futures are slipping as Wall Street plans to open lower after European stocks struggled throughout the day. Investors are focusing on earnings, and the Federal Reserve is currently meeting to discuss its bond-buying strategy. Across the globe, sentiment among investors was mixed. Asian markets saw equities and bonds for Chinese property developers falter as the fallout from the Evergrande ($EGRNF@China) scandal drags on. Currently, a debt exchange caused all sorts of credit warnings, frightening investors. The MSCI world equity index was flat after reaching all-time highs in September. European indexes fall from previous all-time highs, most notably with France’s CAC 40 falling from its highest level since 2000. Matthias Scheiber, global head of portfolio management at Allspring Global Investments, said, “There are probably more worries in earnings about inflation and margin pressure, rather than systematic impact from the Chinese property market…We have not seen any negative spillover back into other sectors. Across the globe, the Reserve Bank of Australia dropped its target for bond yields and prepared to increase interest rates in 2023. The U.S, dollar index held at 93.927, and Goldman Sachs ($GS@US) believes the first interest rate hike of the Post-COVID era will occur in July of 2022.