Stocks' recovery continues. US stocks had their best day since 2022 yesterday. November, the value of the S&P 500 index rose as much as 2.3 percent, the Nasdaq index rose almost 3 percent. Lower-than-expected jobless claim numbers contributed to investor optimism.
233 thousand applied for benefits. people, economists expected only a slightly higher number (240 thousand), but even small indications about the US labor market are now extremely important in a highly sensitive market. Optimism in the US also helped European stocks, with most of the continent's major indices rising slightly yesterday. Although investors now expect about 1 percent. US interest rate cuts, Fed officials do not dare to talk about specific reductions yet. The president of the Kansas City Regional Fed indicated that he would not yet be ready to cut interest rates as long as inflation is at current levels (inflation was 3 percent in June, PCE inflation was 2.6 percent). Other Fed officials were more upbeat, but next week's U.S. July data will be key. inflation data. Along with the return of risk appetite, oil prices also recovered, with the price of a barrel of Brent oil rising to $79/bbl. Events in the world are also important – production in Libya's largest oil field has been stopped, and the unexpected breakthrough of Ukraine into Russian territory is also closely watched by oil traders.
Baltic markets have better weathered the global stock sell-off. The region's shares this year did not receive the same attention and growth as shares in Europe or the United States. Low valuations of listed Baltic companies also "protected" investors' returns during the global stock sell-off, with the OMXB index down only 1.3 percent this week. Lithuania's July inflation was also published yesterday – according to the consumer price index, prices increased by 0.9 percent during the year, but compared to June, July prices fell by 0.1 percent. Elevating Group, a financial technology company operating in Lithuania, continues to prepare for the initial public offering of shares, which was already discussed earlier. The company has announced a dividend policy, according to which their expected payout ratio will reach 30-50 percent.
