Markets Digest The Fed's Hawkish Pause, Wait For ECB

Sentiment remained mixed as markets digested the Fed’s pause and the hawkish forward guidance. Focus has now shifted to the ECB decision due shortly.

European benchmarks are trading mostly lower amidst caution ahead of policy review by ECB. Wall Street Futures are trading lower. Asian stocks finished trading on a mixed note amidst rate cuts by the PBoC and hopes of a stimulus from China.

Dollar firmed up, lifting the Dollar Index. Bond yields hardened, pricing in rate hike expectations. Crude oil prices were boosted by record refinery throughput data from China. Gold prices were overwhelmed by the Fed’s rate hike guidance. Cryptocurrencies were weighed down by Fed hints, SEC action and Tether’s de-peg.

Here is a snapshot of the world markets at this hour across stocks, currencies, bonds, commodities and cryptocurrencies.

Stock Indexes:

DJIA (US30) at 33,897.50, down 0.24%
S&P 500 (US500) at 4,353.90, down 0.43%
Germany’s DAX at 16,205.55, down 0.65%
U.K.’s FTSE 100 at 7,605.86, up 0.04%
France’s CAC 40 at 7,274.48, down 0.74%
Euro Stoxx 50 at 4,348.65, down 0.62%
Japan’s Nikkei 225 at 33,485.49, down 0.05%
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 at 7,175.30, up 0.19%
China’s Shanghai Composite at 3,252.98, up 0.74%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng at 19,828.92, up 2.17%

Currencies:

EUR/USD at 1.0839, up 0.06%
GBP/USD at 1.2654, down 0.07%
USD/JPY at 141.18, up 0.78%
AUD/USD at 0.6806, up 0.15%
USD/CAD at 1.3330, up 0.04%
Dollar Index at 103.09, up 0.14%

Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:

U.S. at 3.825%, up 0.74%
Germany at 2.4970%, up 2.13%
France at 3.024%, up 1.66%
U.K. at 4.4625%, up 1.61%
Japan at 0.419%, down 1.64%

Commodities:

Brent Oil Futures (Aug) at $73.93, up 1.00%
Crude Oil WTI Futures (Jul) at $68.94, up 0.98%
Gold Futures (Aug) at $1,946.65, down 1.13%

Cryptocurrencies:

Bitcoin at $24,856.09, down 4.15%
Ethereum at $1,628.57, down 6.65%
BNB at $234.65, down 5.04%
XRP at $0.4728, down 6.16%
Cardano (ADA) at $0.2559, down 6.44%

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