A hardening in bond yields amidst Fed Chair Jerome Powell's lament about high inflation, as well as growing fears of the Middle East conflict escalating into a wider regional conflict, dampened market sentiment early on Friday.
Wall Street Futures are trading with mild losses. European benchmarks are trading deep in the red amidst U.K.'s retail sales falling more than expected. Asian stocks extended losses.
Uncertainty about the Fed's monetary policy trajectory kept the Dollar subdued. Bond yields are moving mixed. U.S. government's plans to refill its Strategic Petroleum Reserve and fears of the Middle East conflict widening, lifted crude oil prices. Safe haven buying lifted the prices of Gold. Cryptocurrencies rallied amidst the SEC dropping charges against the leadership of Ripple Labs. Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.
Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 33,377.20, down 0.11% S&P 500 (US500) at 4,272.70, down 0.12% Germany's DAX at 14,889.85, down 1.03% U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 7,463.62, down 0.48% France's CAC 40 at 6,854.30, down 0.97%Euro Stoxx 50 at 4,051.05, down 0.96%Japan's Nikkei 225 at 31,259.36, down 0.52% Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 6,900.70, down 1.16% China's Shanghai Composite at 2,983.06, down 0.74%Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 17,142.00, down 0.65%
Currencies:
EUR/USD at 1.0591, up 0.11%GBP/USD at 1.2121, down 0.18%USD/JPY at 149.95, up 0.11%AUD/USD at 0.6310, down 0.28%USD/CAD at 1.3691, down 0.20% Dollar Index at 106.21, down 0.04%
Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 4.943%, down 0.96% Germany at 2.9280%, up 0.03%France at 3.546%, down 0.06%U.K. at 4.7330%, up 1.22%Japan at 0.836%, down 0.54%
Commodities:
Brent Oil Futures (Dec) at $93.17, up 0.86%.Crude Oil WTI Futures (Dec) at $89.30, up 1.05%.Gold Futures (Dec) at $1,993.15, up 0.64%.
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $29,639.16, up 4.50%Ethereum at $1,600.90, up 3.16%BNB at $214.15, up 1.90% XRP at $0.5138, up 7.07%Solana (SOL) at $26.75, up 12.01%.
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Forex News
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.