House prices, Target earnings, Eurozone inflation

By Geoffrey Smith

-- The fxpro crude oilU.S. releases January data for house prices, amid signs of an incipient revival in the housing market. Consumer confidence data is also due. Bets on European Central Bank rate hikes reach a new peak after hot inflation data in Spain and France. beats expectations with its quarterly profit but its guidance for the coming year is weak. Rupert Murdoch acknowledges in a deposition that Fox News hosts endorsed false claims about the 2020 presidential election being stolen, and oil is higher ahead of U.S. inventory data later. Here's what you need to know in financial markets on Tuesday, 28th February.

1. House prices, consumer confidence due

The U.S. releases data on developments in January that will perhaps draw more interest than usual after surprisingly strong data for and , which suggested the market may be bottoming out.

The has fallen for the last five months in a row in response to higher borrowing costs and stretched affordability.

Also due is the Chicago Federal Reserve’s at 09:45 ET and the Conference Board’s at 10: 00 ET.

2. ECB rate hike bets intensify after hot January CPI numbers

Eurozone bond yields continued their relentless march upward after stronger-than-expected inflation numbers from France and Spain, the region’s second and fourth largest economies, came in significantly above expectations in February.

rose 0.9%, pushing the up to 6.2%, and separate data showed that was also surprisingly strong. In Spain, meanwhile, prices rose a hefty , against expectations for no change.

Benchmark bond yields rose as much as six basis points, with the Bund yield hitting a new 12-year high of 2.66%, as traders shifted their expectations for peak to nearly 4%.

3. Stocks edge higher; Target reports high, but guides low

U.S. stock markets are struggling for direction in the overnight session, with attention likely to focus on month-end positioning in the relative absence of heavy fundamental news.

By 06:30 ET, were up 43 points or 0.1%, while and were both up 0.2%. The benchmark cash indices had a moderately positive day on Monday, gaining by between 0.2% and 0.6%.

The day’s big early release is Target (NYSE:), which issued full-year guidance seriously below Street forecasts despite a handsome in the fourth quarter.

Other stocks likely to be in focus later include (NASDAQ:), up 6.8% in premarket after evidence of it expanding its footprint among corporate clients. Its guidance for both current quarter and full year were well ahead of market expectations. By contrast, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:) is under pressure after missing Street forecasts. AutoZone (NYSE:), (NYSE:) and (NYSE:) are also all due to report early, while (NASDAQ:), HP (NYSE:) and Rivian (NASDAQ:) report after the close.

4. Fox hosts endorsed false election claims, says Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch admitted in a deposition that Fox News hosts including Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, and Maria Bartiromo had endorsed false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

The deposition was taken in connection with a defamation lawsuit brought against Fox (NASDAQ:) by Dominion Voting Systems. In it, Murdoch, Fox's biggest shareholder, testified that he didn’t believe any claim of major election fraud, but acknowledged that the company had been under pressure to run with the claims rather than risk losing viewers to rivals such as One America and Newsmax.

The disclosures come only a couple of weeks after Murdoch abandoned plans to reunite his media empire after splitting off Fox from News Corp. (NASDAQ:) – the owner of The Wall Street Journal and a string of U.K. and Australian news titles - a decade ago.

5. Crude rises ahead of U.S. inventories

Crude oil prices were a little stronger overnight, shrugging off weak economic data out of Japan, where fell by the most in seven months in January. Reports suggest that Saudi Arabia may raise its official selling prices again for April supported prices.

Attention is likely to focus on U.S. inventory data from the at 16:30 ET. These have shown commercial crude stocks rising steeply in the last eight weeks – by a combined total of more than 50 million barrels. However, they still remain at historically low levels as a result of last year’s market tightness.

By 06:45 ET, futures were up 1.6% at $76.87 a barrel, their highest in nearly a week, while was up 1.4% at $83.21 a barrel.

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