Mirroring the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday, amid optimism over the outlook for interest rates after the US Fed left interest rates unchanged and the accompanying statement signaled three interest rate cuts next year as inflation eased over the past year. Asian Markets closed mixed on Wednesday.
The median forecast indicates rates will be lowered to 4.6 percent by the end of 2024. During his post-meeting press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged that rate cuts will be a "topic of discussion" at upcoming meetings.
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Business News
May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.