Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as the markets react to the US Fed's decision to lower interest rates for the first time in over four years, aggressively slashing rates by half a percentage point. Fed officials also suggested the central bank will cut rates by another 50 basis points by the end of the year. Asian Markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday.
Fed officials also expect to continue lowering rates next year, with the projections indicating rates will be lower by another full percentage point by the end of 2025.
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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.