Скачать или смотреть Fed comments increase uncertainty and vol for US equity indices

Nokia was a stand out at the single stock level on Thursday in the wake of earnings news. Profits tumbled by 69%, there’s uncertainty over future growth and some 14,000 jobs are to be lost. The underlying stock had sold off by around 10% in the latter part of the session before staging a modest recovery into the close. One day vol stood at 132.38% against 45.25% for the month.

Comments from the Fed were closely followed yesterday, but Jerome Powell’s assessment was arguably far from conclusive. Ultimately this did end up weighing on equity market sentiment a little, but talk of having to work for lower economic growth could come back to haunt Wall Street. The main equity indices closed around 1% lower, with one day vol on the NASDAQ printing 26.18% against 19.01% for the month, whilst the S&P 500 came in at 21.13% on the day and 15.11% on the month.

A bigger than expected build in reserves along with what are seen as heightened de-escalation efforts in the Middle East crisis served to knock natural gas prices lower on Thursday. The contract returned to levels not seen in two weeks off the back of this news, some 13% down from recent highs. One day vol hit 59.6% against 48.27% on the month.