The cheerful skies are seeing a colour change. After a small breather, world equity markets have resumed their descent. A downward revision in US’ Q3 GDP is adding to the already bleak backdrop. But, the US indices didn’t witness sharp cuts. They were down marginally. European benchmarks also closed in the red following a spike in Spanish and Belgian bond yields. Meanwhile, the Fed has announced a new set of stress tests for US lenders. Minutes of the last FOMC meeting show that the central bank is mulling inflation targets.
The opening will be lower. Asian stocks are mostly down, although the Chinese market is showing some resilience ahead of provisional manufacturing PMI data. Japanese markets are shut for a holiday.
For India, the big worry right now is the relentless slide in the Rupee. This has increased the headache for policymakers who have their hands full with a whole host of problems. The first day of the winter session hasn’t inspired much confidence either. Hopefully, things will improve on this front. SKS Microfinance will be in focus amid reports of top-level reshuffle.
