Investing.com - The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) dipped 0.2% at Friday's open. This shift follows newly released U.S. consumer price data that has somewhat dampened the optimism surrounding the Federal Reserve's anticipated interest rate cuts in March.
The U.S. market experienced considerable fluctuation with shares initially opening on a high, then plummeting before recovering approximately half of their losses by 2 pm, ultimately ending the day flat.
U.S. Treasury yields also experienced a dip after an initial increase, with the 10-year yield falling below 4% again. Meanwhile, Bitcoin briefly soared above $US49,000, marking a two-year peak. However, it lost its gains around 2 pm in New York, before making a slight recovery by 3 pm, stabilizing at around $US46,500.
The US consumer price index witnessed a 3.4% rise through December last year, marking the highest increase in three months. This surge was driven by hikes in shelter, electricity, motor vehicle insurance, and used-car prices.
In contrast, Japanese stocks continued their impressive performance in 2024, with the Nikkei 225 closing above 35,000 for the first time since 1990, ahead of the U.S. data release on Thursday.
ASX 200 Futures experienced a 34-point or 0.5% drop to 7454 around 8 am AEDT.
The Australian dollar experienced a slight dip of 0.1%, settling at 66.92 US cents. Bitcoin displayed a notable increase, climbing 2.4% to reach $US46,400 as of 8.30 am AEDT. Wall Street showed mixed results at 4 pm: the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.04%, the S&P 500 fell by 0.07%, and the NASDAQ Composite closed flat.
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In New York, prominent companies exhibited a range of performances. BHP (ASX:BHP) Group (NYSE:BHP) saw a marginal decline of 0.3%, Rio Tinto ADR (NYSE:RIO) fell by 0.4%, and Atlassian Corp Plc (NASDAQ:TEAM) dropped by 0.8%. Conversely, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) experienced a 0.5% increase, while Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) saw decreases of 2.9% and 0.3% respectively.
Market volatility index (VIX) fell by 2%, Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) dropped by 0.2%, and iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT) increased by 0.6%. In the European market, Euro Stoxx 50 decreased by 0.6%, FTSE 100 fell by 1%, Germany's DAX reduced by 0.9% and France's CAC 40 declined by 0.5%.
As for commodities, spot gold experienced a 0.4% decrease to reach $US2016.19 per ounce at 1.57 pm in New York. Brent crude oil, on the other hand, rose by 0.6% to $US77.26 a barrel. Iron ore also saw an increase, rising by 1.1% to $US134.35 a tonne.
Among data releases, local November home loans and housing finance data will be released at 11.30 am, while investors will be monitoring China's December CPI and trade data, Japan's November current account and US December PPI.