Stocks rise on U.S. rate drop expectations

The MSCI All-Country index was up 0.12% on the day, just below record-highs struck two weeks ago.

Global shares rose on Friday, along with the dollar, as investors clung to the view that U.S. rates may fall further this year, and gold futures rallied on reports of duties on U.S. imports of bullion bars, most of which come from Switzerland.

An index of world stocks traded near record highs, shrugging off weakness on Wall Street overnight, while in Europe, shares got a lift from a spate of robust earnings and from optimism that the hefty U.S. tariffs that kicked in on Thursday would be subject to negotiation.

The outlook for monetary policy in the United States, a linchpin for global markets, has been further thrown into question by a series of changes at the Federal Reserve, where policymakers are divided on the impact of inflation and the central bank’s leadership is shifting.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would nominate Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran to fill a vacant seat at the Fed for a few months while the White House seeks a permanent addition to the central bank’s governing board and continues its search for a new chair.

Miran holds similar views to Trump, who has berated Chair Jerome Powell for being “too late” in cutting interest rates, even though growth is holding up and inflation is ticking higher.

It locks in a vote for rate cuts at all the meetings between now and the end of January, said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank in Sydney.

Markets are already travelling with a very strong expectation that there will be a rate cut, he added. Though there’s a question mark over whether he’ll succeed in ratification in time for the September meeting.

The MSCI All-Country index was up 0.12% on the day, just below record-highs struck two weeks ago, and was heading for a 2% rise this week, its best performance since mid-June.

Europe’s STOXX 600 was up 0.25%, led by gains in pharma and technology shares. Zurich’s SMI index, which on Thursday shrugged off Switzerland’s 39% U.S. tariff coming into effect, was up another 0.25% on Friday morning.