Hawkish comments emerging from last week's Jackson Hole Symposium laid to rest hopes of a dovish monetary policy in the near future dragging down market sentiment. Fed Chair Powell opined that restrictive monetary policy was warranted for some time to fight inflation and also warned against premature loosening of the monetary policy.Asian stocks finished mostly lower. European stocks are also trading deep in the red. Wall Street Futures are also trading in negative territory.
The Dollar's rise lifted the Dollar Index to a fresh 20-year high of 109.48. Bond yields surged. Crude oil prices continued to rise amidst fears of an OPEC supply cut. Gold dropped amidst a strengthening Dollar. Cryptocurrencies declined.
Here is a snapshot of the world markets at this hour across stocks, currencies, bonds, commodities and cryptocurrencies. Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 32,024.60, down 0.80% S&P 500 (US500) at 4,021.20, down 0.90% Germany's DAX at 12,795.01, down 1.36% U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 7,427.31, down 0.70% France's CAC 40 at 6,179.73, down 1.51% Euro Stoxx 50 at 3,548.85, down 1.52%Japan's Nikkei 225 at 27,878.96, down 2.66% Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 6,965.50, down 1.95% China's Shanghai Composite at 3,240.73, up 0.14% Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 20,041.00, down 0.64%
Currencies:
EURUSD at 0.9926, down 0.35%GBPUSD at 1.1662, down 0.72%USDJPY at 138.76, up 0.91%AUDUSD at 0.6855, down 0.51%USDCAD at 1.3072, up 0.30%Dollar Index at 109.37, up 0.52%
Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 3.114%, up 2.59% Germany at 1.5360%, up 9.87%France at 2.164%, up 8.04%U.K. at 2.6175%, up 0.44%Japan at 0.235%, up 7.05%
Commodities:
Crude Oil WTI Futures (Oct) at $93.88, up 0.88%Brent Oil Futures (Nov) at $99.84, up 0.84%Gold Futures (Dec) at $1,732.95, down 0.96%
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $19,886.31, down 1.01%Ethereum at $1,452.76, down 3.22%BNB at $277.55, down 1.12% XRP at $0.3224, down 3.90%Cardano at $0.4328, down 4.06%
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April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.