Relief at the Fed's pause and hopes of an end to the tightening cycle bolstered market sentiment across asset classes and regions. The Bank of England is also widely expected to keep rates on hold in its decision on Thursday.
Wall Street Futures are trading on a positive note amidst the Fed's dovish stance. European benchmarks recorded strong gains as markets expected an end to the tightening cycle by the European Central Bank as well. Asian stocks mostly gained.
Dollar's retreat dragged down the Dollar Index. Bond yields eased across regions and tenors. Status quo by the Fed lifted crude oil prices. Gold rallied amidst the dovish pause by the Fed. Cryptocurrencies surged ahead. Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.
Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 33,391.70, up 0.35% S&P 500 (US500) at 4,260.00, up 0.52% Germany's DAX at 15,157.55, up 1.57% U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 7,438.87, up 1.31% France's CAC 40 at 7,045.02, up 1.62%Euro Stoxx 50 at 4,159.25, up 1.65%Japan's Nikkei 225 at 31,949.89, up 1.20% Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 6,899.70, up 0.90% China's Shanghai Composite at 3,009.41, down 0.45%Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 17,239.00, up 0.91%
Currencies:
EUR/USD at 1.0620, up 0.49%GBP/USD at 1.2182, up 0.26%USD/JPY at 150.28, down 0.44%AUD/USD at 0.6443, up 0.80%USD/CAD at 1.3809, down 0.34% Dollar Index at 106.20, down 0.64% Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 4.715%, down 1.54% Germany at 2.7105%, down 1.47%France at 3.320%, down 1.66%U.K. at 4.4530%, down 1.04%Japan at 0.912%, down 0.44%
Commodities:
Brent Oil Futures (Jan) at $86.11, up 1.75%.Crude Oil WTI Futures (Dec) at $81.97, up 1.90%.Gold Futures (Dec) at $1,996.25, up 0.44%.
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $35,378.04, up 2.67%Ethereum at $1,833.84, up 1.61%BNB at $230.70, up 2.62% XRP at $0.6069, up 1.05%Solana (SOL) at $43.68, up 12.61%.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.