He is expected to say that the Fed will keep providing support to the economy through accommodating monetary policy. But fears about rising inflation are raising questions among investors about the central bank policy for interest rates and bond purchases.

They have seen the vaccines and stimulus packages: investors are now waiting for a return to normalcy. It seems relatively close in the United States. Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package was recently passed in Congress and a second plan is already in the works in the United States.

A particularly ambitious new program is being promoted by Biden's economic advisors. They are recommending spending an additional $3 trillion on a massive stimulus package that would include a giant infrastructure plan, according to the New York Times. The new bill would be funded in part by tax increases on corporations and wealthier households.

Financial markets seem to need a breather today, perhaps while waiting for positive news from the sectors most weakened by the crisis, such as tourism and events. Most indices rose yesterday across the world, bar a few exceptions. Globally, investors consider that the battle against the coronavirus is won in the United States - let's hope so - but not yet in Europe, where governments are still engaged in a vaccine race against the clock, with targeted rather than general measures.

In other news, GameStop will release its 2020 results tonight, after the company benefitted from a surge in interest from a new kind of investors using platforms such as Robinhood. This should allow investors to gauge the adequacy between its valuation and its results. The question is whether the stock will be able to remain weightless after this reality check. Unless the company manages to make investors drool with unsuspected prospects? After all, not everything is logical in this case.

 

Economic highlights of the day

Today on the agenda, along with Jerome Powell’s speech, we have British employment figures, the Richmond Fed index and sales in new housing.

The euro is stagnating at USD 1.19244, as is the ounce of gold around USD 1735. After its recent bouts of fever, oil seems to be easing, at USD 64 per barrel for Brent and just below USD 61 per barrel for WTI. The T-Bond yield is coming in at 1.67% over 10 years, close to its recent levels. Bitcoin has been under pressure since yesterday, at USD 53,200.

 

On markets:

*Microsoft is in talks to buy online messaging platform Discord for more than $10 billion, Bloomberg reports.

*Roche on Tuesday announced the results of a clinical trial showing that a cocktail of antibodies developed with Regeneron reduced the number of deaths and hospitalizations related to COVID-19 by 70 percent compared with a placebo.

*The Boeing Company announced that it has taken out a $5.28 billion revolving credit line while expressing confidence in its ability to contain its debt.

*Lumenum announced that it had raised its bid for Coherent to $7 billion, matching the proposal of II-VI, which also wants the laser solutions specialist. Coherent shares gained 1.3% in pre-market trading.

*Pfizer plans to use the messenger RNA technology behind its COVID-19 vaccine to develop new vaccines targeting other viruses and pathogens, the pharmaceutical company's chief executive told The Wall Street Journal.

*Baidu is down 3% in pre-market trading after the Chinese internet giant's lackluster session on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on its first day of trading.

* Bilibili, the Chinese video-sharing platform already listed on Nasdaq, plans to raise $2.6 billion in its Hong Kong IPO.

* Tencent Music Entertainment and Warner Music announced that they have signed a multi-year strategic license agreement and agreed to establish a joint venture in China.