Global shares held their ground on Thursday as strong earnings from chip giant Nvidia prepared the ground for a firmer start on Wall Street.
Oil prices recouped ground lost in earlier sessions, while the dollar index rose to is highest in nearly seven weeks, before later easing, as traders stuck to the view the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising rates by a quarter of a point at its next three meetings.
Better-than-expected revenue at Nvidia (NVDA.O) after hours sent its shares up 9% on Wall Street, helping to push Nasdaq futures 1% higher on Thursday, along with shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (2330.TW), and European peers such as ASM International (ASMI.AS) and BE Semiconductor (BESI.AS).
The MSCI all country share index (.MIWD00000PUS) was barely firmer as the year's 4.5% advance stalled. In Europe, the STOXX (.STOXX) index of leading European companies was 0.3% higher, consolidating its 8.8% gain for the year to nearly wiping out much of last year's 13% loss.
Nearly all Fed policymakers backed further slowing the pace of rate hikes, minutes of the U.S. central bank's last policy meeting showed on Wednesday, but it also indicated that curbing unacceptably high inflation would be the "key factor" in how much further rates need to rise.
"It feels like we hit a bit of turning point where we are hearing more hawkish sentiment and central banks may hike rates a little bit more than expected a few weeks ago," said Justin Onuekwusi, head of EMEA retail investments at Legal & General Investment Management.
"We've had data coming in stronger, so there is a risk that the momentum and enthusiasm is starting to wane in equity markets," Onuekwusi said.
Euro zone data on Thursday showed inflation was marginally higher in January than previously estimated, but confirming that price growth is past its peak though the European Central Bank has already promised another 50-basis point hike in March.
Euro area bond yields headed back to multi-year highs in anticipation of further interest rate hikes.
Bank of England rate setter Catherine Mann said the central bank should continue to raise borrowing costs, but her remarks had little impact on sterling.
Ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street, Dow futures were up 0.3%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.5%. The second reading of fourth quarter gross domestic product and weekly jobless claims data are due.
