Sentiment steadies as Fed chair’s Jackson Hole speech nears

Sentiment steadies as Fed chair’s Jackson Hole speech nears

LONDON- Global equities and oil rose on Tuesday as a bounce in China's tech sector, positive U.S. vaccination news and easing worries about the U.S. tapering stimulus lifted sentiment ahead of a key speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later this week. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 50 countries, rose another 0.3% after its 1.1% gain on Monday, setting it on a recovery course after last week's sell-off. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rallied 1.9%, with Chinese stocks rebounding after being hit by regulatory worries last week. In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 was broadly flat while Wall Street was set to open in positive territory with Nasdaq NQc1 and S&P 500 futures up 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. Worries the Fed was edging closer to tapering its stimulus weighed on global markets last week, but investors are now much less confident Powell's speech at Jackson Hole will indicate a timeline for winding down the Fed's bond-buying program. "I can't see a shift in monetary policy in the next two to three months", said Mikael Jacoby, head of continental European sales trading at Oddo Securities in Paris. Jacoby argued that the resurgent pandemic