Markets are waiting anxiously for the outcome of the Federal Reserve's last monetary policy decision of the year, due later in the day. Despite a minor uptick in the month-on-month U.S. CPI readings, market expectation remains focused on Fed's rate cuts.
Wall Street Futures reveal mild gains. European benchmarks are trading higher. Asian stocks finished trading on a mixed note.
Anxiety ahead of the Fed decision lifted the Dollar and the Dollar Index. Bond yields mostly eased. Crude oil prices slumped amidst concerns over a global demand. Gold prices gained whereas cryptocurrencies declined. Here is a glimpse of the major world markets at this hour.
Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 36,617.10, up 0.07% S&P 500 (US500) at 4,649.20, up 0.06% Germany's DAX at 16,809.95, up 0.11% U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 7,565.98, up 0.31% France's CAC 40 at 7,566.44, up 0.30%Euro Stoxx 50 at 4,547.05, up 0.23%Japan's Nikkei 225 at 32,926.35, up 0.25% Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 7,257.80, up 0.31% China's Shanghai Composite at 2,968.76, down 1.15%Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 16,247.00, down 0.94%
Currencies:
EUR/USD at 1.0777, down 0.14%GBP/USD at 1.2512, down 0.39%USD/JPY at 145.75, up 0.22%AUD/USD at 0.6555, down 0.06%USD/CAD at 1.3593, up 0.04% Dollar Index at 104.01, up 0.14%
Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 4.192%, down 0.36% Germany at 2.194%, down 1.66%France at 2.734%, down 1.58%U.K. at 3.9285%, down 1.02%Japan at 0.697%, up 0.94%
Commodities:
Brent Oil Futures (Feb) at $73.16, down 0.11%.Crude Oil WTI Futures (Jan) at $68.56, down 0.07%.Gold Futures (Feb) at $1,996.65, up 0.17%.
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $41,156.56, down 1.48%Ethereum at $2,172.27, down 2.30%BNB at $250.00, down 0.37% XRP at $0.6049, down 2.76%Solana (SOL) at $65.81, down 8.03%.
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Business 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.