【今日短语】
top out
reach an upper limit.
"collectors whose budgets tend to top out at about $50,000"
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原文如下：
The day in the markets
by George Steer
(来自：The Financial Time 金融时报)
What you need to know
• US government bonds sell off following hawkish comments by Powell
• Short-term Treasury yields hit highest level since 2007
• Sterling slides after BoE raises UK interest rates to 3%
US short-term government bond yields soared to levels last seen in 2007 and stocks fell a day after Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell warned that interest rates would peak at a higher level than previously expected.
The two-year Treasury yield, which is particularly sensitive to monetary policy, rose 13 basis points to 4.73 per cent.
Wall Street equities also extended steep falls from the previous day. The blue-chip S&P 500 fell 0.3 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.7 per cent.
Those sharp moves came after Powell said on Wednesday that the US central bank had “some ways to go” in its quest to tame inflation and that the “terminal” point at which interest rates would top out would be higher than anticipated.
Powell’s comments followed a decision by the Fed’s rate-setting panel to lift borrowing costs by 0.75 percentage points for the fourth consecutive time, taking the Fed’s target range to 3.75 per cent to 4 per cent.
Traders are now betting that interest rates in the world’s largest economy will peak at about 5.15 per cent in June next year compared with 5 per cent before Wednesday’s Fed meeting, according to trading in federal funds futures.
Projections of higher interest rates helped the US Dollar Index, which tracks the currency against six peers including the euro and sterling, to strengthen 1.5 per cent.
Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management, said Powell’s statements were likely to snuff out investor optimism.
“We just set a new sentimental tone and it’s bearish,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to get ugly but optimism is out the window for a while.”
Across the Atlantic, the pan-regional Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.9 per cent. London’s FTSE finished 0.6 per cent higher after the Bank of England raised UK borrowing costs by 0.75 percentage points in an attempt to lower inflation, bringing its main interest rate to 3 per cent.
The pound slipped following the news, extending earlier losses against the dollar to trade 1.8 per cent lower at $1.1180.
