U.S. Uncertainty, German Elections Top Global Market News

2025-02-26 02:00:00 ET

Summary

• Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee illustrate concerns with the possible effects of US trade and immigration policies.
• We got the worst of both worlds with the latest University of Michigan Survey of Consumers: falling consumer sentiment and rising inflation expectations.
• Last weekend’s German election results were probably the most market-friendly result investors could have hoped for.

Last week brought a range of developments for investors to watch, including acknowledgements of uncertainty during corporate earnings calls, questions about US government cost-cutting, pessimistic US consumer survey results, and German election results that could be a positive catalyst for European equities.

Meeting minutes illustrate Federal Reserve concerns about inflation

As expected, the minutes from January's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting showed that officials were ready to hold interest rates steady until further improvement on inflation. This is the "wait and see" message that Chair Jay Powell shared during the press conference in January:

"Participants indicated that, provided the economy remained near maximum employment, they would want to see further progress on inflation before making additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate." ¹ ...

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