Market attention has turned on corporate earnings scorecards as well as key economic data releases on the anvil. Lingering geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran also swayed market sentiment.
Meanwhile, the ADP employment report from the U.S. released just a while ago showed private businesses adding 22k jobs in January versus a downwardly revised 37k rise in December and below forecasts of a 48k rise. The ISM Services PMI reading due on Wednesday morning is expected to show a decline from the previous month.
Wall Street Futures are trading in positive territory. Benchmarks in Europe are trading on a mostly positive note amidst cooling inflation in the Euro Zone. Earlier, Asian markets too finished trading on a more or less positive note.
The dollar index is trading mildly higher amidst a labor market update that showed subdued hiring in the U.S. Bond yields eased across regions.
Crude oil prices have edged up. Gold extended gains as geopolitical tensions and global uncertainties spurred haven demand. Cryptocurrencies extended losses. Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.
Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 49,375.10, up 0.27% S&P 500 (US500) at 6,926.50, up 0.13%Germany's DAX at 24,705.04, down 0.28% U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 10,440.70, up 1.22% France's CAC 40 at 8,248.24, up 0.84%Euro Stoxx 50 at 6,003.75, up 0.14% Japan's Nikkei 225 at 54,293.36, down 0.78%Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 8,927.80, up 0.80%China's Shanghai Composite at 4,102.20, up 0.85%Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 26,847.32, up 0.05%
Currencies:
EUR/USD at 1.1816, down 0.03%GBP/USD at 1.3714, up 0.14%USD/JPY at 156.71, up 0.62%AUD/USD at 0.7028, up 0.17%USD/CAD at 1.3649, up 0.09% Dollar Index at 97.50, up 0.12%
Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 4.269%, down 0.07% Germany at 2.8670%, down 0.76%France at 3.445%, down 0.66%U.K. at 4.5180%, down 0.02%Japan at 2.249%, down 0.40%
Commodities:
Brent Oil Futures (Apr) at $67.39, up 0.09%.Crude Oil WTI Futures (Mar) at $63.31, up 0.16%.Gold Futures (Apr) at $5,067.20, up 2.68%. Silver Futures (Mar) at $90.235, up 8.32%.
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $75,860.76, down 3.07%Ethereum at $2,231.57, down 2.99%BNB at $749.07, down 3.28%XRP at $1.58, down 1.47%Solana at $96.01, down 6.86%
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Market Analysis
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.