Key factors that are shaping the market today

Good Morning Business Today readers

Two influential US Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday said interest rate hike in US may come as early as in September. Oil prices slumped from their five week high, while at home things do not appear encouraging with wholesale price inflation jumping over 23-month high.

Below is a wrap-up of these and more developments overnight that you must know as trading begins on Dalal Street:

1. Fed rate hike as early as in September: New York Fed President William Dudley voiced confidence in the US economy and said the Fed might raise rates as soon as its September 20-21 policy meeting. Later, Atlanta Fe President Dennis Lockhart also said US economy is likely strong enough for at least one interest rate increase before the end of 2016, with two hikes a possibility.
2. Global markets pause rally: Wall Street shares retreated from record highs, with the S&P 500 losing 0.55 per cent on Tuesday. Taking lead from US markets, Asian markets also stepped back from one-year high after Fed comments.
3. Oil prices at five week high: Oil prices fell away from 5-week highs on Wednesday, as analysts doubted possible producer talks to rein in ballooning oversupply would be successful. Brent crude futures were trading at $48.92 per barrel, down 31 cents from their last settlement. Despite the dip, prices are still up over 17 per cent since early August and remain not far off a five-week high of $49.36 a barrel reached the previous day.
4. Gold treads water: Gold was little changed on Wednesday as hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve officials raised bets on a rate hike this year and traders await minutes of the July Fed policy meeting for more clues.
5. Raghuram Rajan calls for revamp of bank regulators: The outgoing Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan called for a new structure to oversee state-owned lenders, saying too many regulators had overlapping jurisdictions. Rajan listed a number of institutions that oversee banks, including parliament, the recently created Banks Board Bureau to improve governance at state-owned lenders and the RBI.