Markets Weak As Fed In No Haste To Ease Rates

Market sentiment remains weak as Chair Jerome Powell on Monday indicated that the Fed was not on any preset course in respect of monetary policy. Reiterating its view that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals were roughly in balance, the Fed has clarified that decisions would continue to be made meeting by meeting. The Fed’s commitment to carefully assess incoming data has added weight to the major economic data from the U.S. due during the week including PMI, JOLTs Job Openings and the monthly non-farm payrolls report.

According to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool that tracks the expectations of interest rate traders, the likelihood of a half-point cut in the next Fed review in November has fallen to 40 percent from 58 percent a week earlier.

Wall Street Futures are trading in negative territory. European benchmarks are trading mostly higher amidst inflation in the Euro Area falling below the ECB’s target of 2 percent. Asian markets finished trading on a mixed note.

Dollar Index has firmed up in response to Fed Chair’s comments. Bond yields eased across regions. Prospect of additional supply dragged down crude oil prices. Gold rebounded after two sessions of losses. Top-ranked cryptocurrencies are trading on a mixed note.

Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.

Stock Indexes:

DJIA (US30) at 42,217.70, down 0.27%
S&P 500 (US500) at 5,759.00, down 0.06%
Germany’s DAX at 19,391.55, up 0.26%
U.K.’s FTSE 100 at 8,270.03, up 0.40%
France’s CAC 40 at 7,624.72, down 0.14%
Euro Stoxx 50 at 5,007.25, up 0.14%
Japan’s Nikkei 225 at 38,650.50, up 1.97%
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 at 8,208.90, down 0.74%
China’s Shanghai Composite at 3,336.50, up 8.06% (Sep 30)
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng at 21,133.68, up 2.43% (Sep 30)

Currencies:

EUR/USD at 1.1092, down 0.38%
GBP/USD at 1.3317, down 0.40%
USD/JPY at 143.72, up 0.07%
AUD/USD at 0.6905, down 0.11%
USD/CAD at 1.3533, up 0.06%
Dollar Index at 101.09, up 0.31%

Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:

U.S. at 3.742%, down 1.78%
Germany at 2.0505%, down 3.87%
France at 2.812%, down 3.83%
U.K. at 3.9785%, down 0.76%
Japan at 0.850%, down 0.58%

Commodities:

Brent Oil Futures (Dec) at $71.01, down 0.96%.
Crude Oil WTI Futures (Nov) at $67.40, down 1.13%.
Gold Futures (Dec) at $2,670.80, up 0.43%.

Cryptocurrencies:

Bitcoin at $64,067.78, down 0.02%
Ethereum at $2,636.38, up 0.95%
BNB at $578.81, up 0.55%
Solana at $157.00, up 1.54%
XRP at $0.6307, down 0.61%.