Global shares jumped and most currencies rose against the dollar on Wednesday as investors discerned a dovish tone in comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, though a policy tweak by the ECB meant European bonds sat out the rally.
The data showed the surprising addition of 517,000 new jobs in January and stoked fears that the tight labour market may compel the Fed to remain hawkish. Investors were relieved that that Powell did not lean further into this argument.
"The market is looking for a dovish message where it can almost regardless. Powell said effectively the terminal rate could be higher than the market expects, but the Nasdaq and S&P500 were up. I think they're wrong," said Ben Jones, director of macro research at Invesco.
Aggressive rate increases by the Fed and other central banks last year to tame inflation hurt shares and boosted the dollar, but those trends have reversed this year on signs that inflation has started to slacken, raising hopes of rate cuts towards the end of 2023.
"At the moment (markets are) all about the Fed, but at some point it has to morph into being about growth and earnings growth as well," said Jones.