Global market sentiment rebounded after swaying sharply in response to the hawkish tilt in the Fed's decision to hold rates steady. Markets also reacted to the uncertain geopolitical situation in the Middle East, the steady flow of earnings releases from the corporate sector as well as Bank of England's status quo on rates.
Wall Street Futures have rallied ahead of first quarter GDP readings. Benchmarks in Europe are trading on a mostly positive note as markets wait for the European Central Bank's interest rate decision. Earlier in the day, Asian markets had finished trading on a mostly negative note.
The 6-currency Dollar Index which measures the U.S. Dollar's strength against a basket of 6 currencies has declined after Wednesday's rally. Sovereign bond yields have eased after a continuous rally.
Both the crude oil benchmarks are trading slightly below the flatline. Gold has rallied close to 2 percent. Cryptocurrencies are trading deep in the red. Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.
Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 49,186.90, up 0.67% S&P 500 (US500) at 7,161.70, up 0.36%Germany's DAX at 24,106.05, up 0.68% U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 10,349.95, up 1.34% France's CAC 40 at 8,051.42, down 0.26%Euro Stoxx 50 at 5,827.35, up 0.19% Japan's Nikkei 225 at 59,332.50, down 0.98% Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 8,665.80, down 0.24%China's Shanghai Composite at 4,112.16, up 0.11%Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 25,776.53, down 1.28% South Korea's KOSPI at 6,598.87, down 1.38%
Currencies:
Dollar Index at 98.34, down 0.62% EUR/USD at 1.1716, up 0.35%GBP/USD at 1.3525, up 0.39%USD/JPY at 157.11, down 2.00%AUD/USD at 0.7158, up 0.60%USD/CAD at 1.3652, down 0.25%
Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 4.402%, down 0.36% Germany at 3.0849%, down 0.36%France at 3.745%, down 0.37%U.K. at 5.0360%, down 0.79%Japan at 2.519%, up 2.03%
Commodities:
Brent Oil Futures (Jul) at $110.36, down 0.07%.Crude Oil WTI Futures (Jun) at $106.65, down 0.22%.Gold Futures (Jun) at $4,648.69, up 1.91%. Silver Futures (Jul) at $74.09, up 2.78%.
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $76,010.09, down 2.09%Ethereum at $2,259.92, down 3.22%XRP at $1.37, down 2.09%BNB at $615.93, down 1.97%Solana at $82.97, down 2.75%
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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.