Positive sentiment that followed the Fed's first rate cut of the year faded as markets speculated on the headroom available to the Fed to ease rates further. A stronger-than-expected labor market update from the U.S. weighed on sentiment.
Markets also digested the monetary policy action by Bank of England as well as the hawkish announcements by Bank of Japan. Sentiment was also impacted by anxiety ahead of expected talks between China's leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Trump.
Wall Street Futures are directionless. Benchmarks in Europe have mostly declined. Earlier, Asian markets had finished trading on a mixed note. The six-currency Dollar Index has firmed up. Ten-year bond yields have hardened across regions. Both the crude oil benchmarks have declined. Gold is trading in mildly positive territory. Cryptocurrencies are trading on a negative note. Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.
Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 46,136.00, down 0.01% S&P 500 (US500) at 6,636.10, up 0.06%Germany's DAX at 23,621.38, down 0.21% U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 9,217.80, down 0.11% France's CAC 40 at 7,869.54, up 0.19%Euro Stoxx 50 at 5,455.65, down 0.02% Japan's Nikkei 225 at 45,019.00, down 0.63%Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 8,773.50, up 0.32%China's Shanghai Composite at 3,820.09, down 0.30% Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 26,545.10, up 0.00%
Currencies:
EUR/USD at 1.1761, down 0.21%GBP/USD at 1.3505, down 0.39%USD/JPY at 147.89, down 0.07%AUD/USD at 0.6607, down 0.11%USD/CAD at 1.3809, up 0.09% Dollar Index at 97.55, up 0.20%
Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 4.122%, up 0.46% Germany at 2.7368%, up 0.80%France at 3.549%, up 0.68%U.K. at 4.6930%, up 0.17%Japan at 1.643%, up 2.88%
Commodities:
Brent Oil Futures (Nov) at $66.96, down 0.71%.Crude Oil WTI Futures (Oct) at $62.93, down 1.01%.Gold Futures (Dec) at $3,689.90, up 0.32%.
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $116,544.84, down 0.65%Ethereum at $4,525.44, down 1.60%XRP at $3.02, down 2.83%BNB at $995.46, down 0.43%Solana at $242.42, down 1.77%
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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.