Markets Eye Central Bank Decisions

Market focus turned on central bank decisions at the onset of a new week that would see interest rate decisions inter alia by the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England as well as the Bank of Japan.

The CME Group’s closely monitored FedWatch Tool that tracks the expectations of interest rate traders now places a 65 percent chance of a half-point cut and a 35 percent probability on a quarter-point easing by the Federal Reserve.

Wall Street Futures are directionless. European benchmarks are trading on a negative note. Asian stock indexes however finished trading on a positive note.

Dollar Index declined with renewed rate cut hopes. Bond yields are trading in a mixed fashion. Crude oil prices gained amidst a decline in the Dollar Index. Rate cut expectations lifted gold prices to a record high again on Monday. Cryptocurrencies are trading with losses.

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

Stock Indexes:

DJIA (US30) at 41,491.50, up 0.24%
S&P 500 (US500) at 5,621.10, down 0.09%
Germany’s DAX at 18,645.15, down 0.23%
U.K.’s FTSE 100 at 8,267.58, down 0.07%
France’s CAC 40 at 7,449.41, down 0.21%
Euro Stoxx 50 at 4,839.25, down 0.10%
Japan’s Nikkei 225 at 36,581.76, down 0.68% (Sep 13)
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 at 8,121.60, up 0.27%
China’s Shanghai Composite at 2,704.09, down 0.48% (Sep 13)
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng at 17,422.12, up 0.31%

Currencies:

EUR/USD at 1.1128, up 0.47%
GBP/USD at 1.3201, up 0.60%
USD/JPY at 139.82, down 0.71%
AUD/USD at 0.6745, up 0.63%
USD/CAD at 1.3584, down 0.01%
Dollar Index at 100.65, down 0.46%

Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:

U.S. at 3.635%, down 0.33%
Germany at 2.1345%, down 0.72%
France at 2.832%, down 0.39%
U.K. at 3.7980%, up 0.77%
Japan at 0.851%, up 1.19%

Commodities:

Brent Oil Futures (Nov) at $72.13, up 0.73%.
Crude Oil WTI Futures (Nov) at $68.31, up 0.83%.
Gold Futures (Dec) at $2,609.70, down 0.04%.

Cryptocurrencies:

Bitcoin at $58,744.20, down 2.06%
Ethereum at $2,310.36, down 3.99%
BNB at $548.47, down 1.17%
Solana at $132.21, down 2.23%
XRP at $0.5712, down 2.08%.