Markets Looking Ahead To Central Bank Policy Meetings For Direction

The Federal Reserve’s two-day monetary policy meeting gets underway today. The Central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates unchanged, and the focus is going to be on the accompanying statement for clues about when the bank will likely start reducing rates.

The Labor Department’s data last week showing a bigger than expected increase in inflation has dimmed expectations for Fed rate cut anytime soon. The earliest rate cut move is now likely to happen in June.

The Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank are also scheduled to make their monetary policy announcements this week.

The Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates at a 12-year high and signaled it may be done tightening monetary policy.

The Bank of Japan maintained a dovish stance, vowing to continue purchasing government bonds at a “steady” pace amid persistent concerns over the economic recovery.

Data on building permits and housing starts are due this morning.

Data on existing home sales, jobless claims, and reports on manufacturing and services sector activity are due later in the week.

Wall Street futures point to a negative start for stocks this morning. The Dow futures are down 0.25%, the S&P 500 futures are lower by about 0.44% and the Nasdaq futures are down 0.66%.

European stocks are broadly lower. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 is down 0.25%, Germany’s DAX is edging down 0.05% and France’s CAC 40 is up 0.17%. The pan European Stoxx 600 is down 0.14%.

The Dollar index is up 0.45% at $103.89 ahead of Fed’s policy meeting. The yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury Note is down 0.015% at 4.319%.

In commodities, WTI oil futures are down marginally. Gold is modestly lower and Silver is down as well.

Here is a glimpse of the major world markets at this hour.

The major markets in Asia

Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended 0.66% up at $40,003.60
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 closed 0.36% up at 7,703.20.
China’s Shanghai Composite ended at 3,062.76, down 0.72%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.24% to settle at 16,529.48.

Currencies:

EUR/USD at 1.0853, down 0.17%
GBP/USD at 1.2693, down 0.27%
USD/JPY at 150.37, up 0.81%
AUD/USD at 0.6520, down 0.62%
USD/CAD at 1.3571, up 0.27%
Dollar Index at 103.90, gaining 0.45%

Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:

U.S. at 4.319, down 0.15%
Germany at 2.451%, down 0.01%
France at 2.887%, down 0.007%
U.K. at 4.165%, down 0.29%
Japan at 0.732%, down 0.032%

Commodities:

Brent Oil Futures (May) at $86.88 a barrel, down marginally
Crude Oil WTI Futures (Apr) at $82.20, up 0.04%.
Gold Futures (Apr) at $2,158.80 an ounce, down 0.25%.

Cryptocurrencies:
(percentage movements in the past one hour)

Bitcoin at $63,588.75, up 0.89%
Ethereum at $3,286.72, up 2%
BNB at $518.74, up 1.65%
Solana at $182.16, up 4.8%
XRP at $0.5944, up 1.55%
Avalanche at $59.09, up 6%

Market Analysis