Market Bizzz

The euro is up 1.2% on the week and last bought $1.0667 with hotter-than-expected German inflation in February adding to pressure on the European Central Bank to raise rates following unexpectedly strong readings in France and Spain.

Data on Wednesday showed U.S. manufacturing contracted for a fourth straight month in February, but there were signs that factory activity was starting to stabilise, with a measure of new orders pulling back from a more than 2-1/2-year low.

Energy and materials sectors were among the few winners in the session as commodity prices gained after data showed China’s manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in more than a decade as the country continues to leave its COVID-19 restrictions behind.

Marathon canceled the release of fourth-quarter results Tuesday after saying there had been “accounting errors” in several quarters of its financial statements. The US Securities and Exchange Commission raised questions about how the miner recognized the impairment of digital assets and revenue.

The resilience of the world’s largest economy, underpinned by a slew of strong economic data released in recent weeks, have raised market expectations of a higher peak in U.S. interest rates, as the Federal Reserve battles to tame inflation.

Surprisingly strong inflation data lifted euro zone bond yields to their highest in more than a decade on Tuesday, and pushed expectations for the peak in the European Central Bank’s main interest rate to almost 4%. High interest rates dampen gold’s appeal as an inflation hedge while raising the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding asset.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.25% higher but was set to end the month down about 6%. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.44%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.51%.