Economists now reckon the Fed rate cut to come in June: A slim majority ofeconomists — 53 out of 104 — polled by Reuters expect the US Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates in June, with another 33 forecasting a May cut.

This is more or less in line with what the newswire’s surveys have been saying since September, projecting the Fed to ease its monetary policy around the middle of this year.

ICYMI: Fed officials have recently been doubling down on the need to see a strong indication of inflation cooling down before they deciding to start cutting rates.

MEANWHILE- Asian markets are in early trading this morning, tracking yesterday’s decline on Wall Street as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed in the red, dragged down by tech stocks. Major benchmarks in Europe look set to open in the red later this morning, and futures suggest a weak open on Wall Street.

ADX

9,400

-0.1% (YTD: -1.9%)

DFM

4,277

+0.1% (YTD: 5.4%)

Nasdaq Dubai UAE20

3,833

-0.2% (YTD: -0.2%)

USD : AED CBUAE

Buy 3.67

Sell 3.67

EIBOR

5.0% o/n

5.2% 1 yr

TASI

12,606

+0.1% (YTD: +5.3%)

EGX30

29,330

-0.4% (YTD: +17.8%)

S&P 500

4,975

-0.6% (YTD: +4.3%)

FTSE 100

7,719

-0.1% (YTD: -0.2%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,760

-0.1% (YTD: +5.3%)

Brent crude

USD 82.44

+0.1%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 1.70

+7.8%

Gold

USD 2,024.34

–

BTC

51,929.31

+0.3% (YTD: +114.7%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The DFM rose 0.1% yesterday on turnover of AED 340 mn. The index is up 5.4% YTD.

In the green: Mashreqbank (+3.0%), Watania International Holding (+3.0%) and Dubai Taxi Company (+1.8%).

In the red: Takaful Emarat (-9.9%), Al Firdous Holdings (-6.0%) and Dubai Islamic Ins. and Reinsurance (-2.0%).

Over on the ADX, the index fell 0.1% on turnover of AED 1 bn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai closed down 0.2%.

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

Dubai Ins. will pay out AED 70 mn in capital dividends to its shareholders, after the board of directors signed off on the payout, according to a DFM disclosure (pdf).

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