By Caroline Valetkevitch and Danilo Masoni
NEW YORK/MILAN, June 17 (Reuters) – Major stock indexes and the U.S. dollar edged up on Wednesday ahead of Kevin Warsh’s debut as Federal Reserve chair, and oil prices gained as doubts arose about the U.S.-Iran peace deal.
The Fed is expected to hold interest rates steady at the end of the first meeting chaired by Warsh, with a new policy statement and economic projections likely to reflect growing concern about the inflation stoked by the Iran war even with the recent peace deal.
Committee members’ projections in March showed most expected to cut rates.
“This is Warsh’s first time as Fed chair and there’s a lot of anticipation on not what he will do today… but his communication,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments in New York.
U.S. President Donald Trump said his new ceasefire agreement with Iran was not final and he could resume the war if he is unsatisfied. Israel launched fresh airstrikes in Lebanon.
Oil prices rose after falling earlier this week. Lower prices had begun to ease worries about an economic slowdown especially in energy-importing Europe. The International Energy Agency said the oil market will move into a significant supply surplus in 2027 after recovering from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. crude rose 0.85% to $76.70 a barrel and Brent rose to $79.51 per barrel, up 0.7% on the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 202.89 points, or 0.39%, to 52,202.56, the S&P 500 rose 6.80 points, or 0.09%, to 7,518.15 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 17.05 points, or 0.07%, to 26,393.40.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 2.81 points, or 0.25%, to 1,131.11. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.52%.
Shares of BMW fell after the German automaker slashed its 2026 outlook, citing a downturn in China and the impact of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
SpaceX shares were down for the first time since the stock’s market debut last Friday. The stock was last down 2.3%.
DOLLAR HOLDS FIRM
The anticipation of what Warsh will say held the dollar firmer.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.14% to 99.69, with the euro down 0.14% at $1.1591.Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.16% to 160.19.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 0.75 basis point to 4.436%, from 4.428% late on Tuesday.
Cooling inflation expectations lifted euro zone government bonds for a fifth day, their longest rally since February, driving 10-year German yields, the bloc’s benchmark, to their lowest since early April.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York and Danilo Masoni in Milan; addtitional reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus, Kirsten Donovan and Nia Williams)
