CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Renewed fears of a hawkish monetary policy stance by the Federal Reserve roiled markets ahead of the FOMC announcement. The rate hike jitters weakened markets already overwhelmed by worries about the AI hype on earnings and valuations as well as the Middle East flare-up on crude oil prices and broader inflation.
The CME FedWatch tool that tracks the expectations of interest rate traders currently shows the likelihood of a pause by the Fed at around 64 percent, versus 69 percent a day earlier. With crude oil prices jumping again, markets are however pricing in the likelihood of interest rates remaining high for longer than feared.
Wall Street Futures are trading deep in the red. Major benchmarks in Europe are trading in mostly negative territory. Earlier in the day, major Asian markets had finished trading on a mixed note. South Korea's KOSPI extended losses amidst a rout in semiconductor scrips.
Dollar Index is trading close to the flatline. Bond yields mostly hardened. Crude oil prices have surged around 6 percent. Gold has declined more than half a percent. Cryptocurrencies have however rallied.
Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.
Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 52,189.20, down 1.06% S&P 500 (US500) at 7,400.60, down 0.39% Germany's DAX at 25,466.34, down 0.10% U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 10,896.68, up 0.24% France's CAC 40 at 8,405.80, down 0.63% Euro Stoxx 50 at 6,256.05, down 0.53% Japan's Nikkei 225 at 61,434.19, down 1.49% Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 9,038.60, up 1.01% China's Shanghai Composite at 3,828.47, up 0.40% Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 25,807.92, up 1.96% South Korea's KOSPI at 5,663.24, down 5.98%
Currencies:
Dollar Index at 101.40, down 0.01% EUR/USD at 1.1389, down 0.01% GBP/USD at 1.3289, down 0.03% USD/JPY at 163.75, down 0.04% AUD/USD at 0.6945, down 0.43% USD/CAD at 1.4086, down 0.15%
Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 4.623%, up 0.41% Germany at 3.1430%, up 1.11% France at 3.938%, up 1.29% U.K. at 5.0097%, up 1.25% Japan at 2.749%, down 0.76%
Commodities:
Brent Oil Futures (Oct) at $86.79, up 5.74% Crude Oil WTI Futures (Sep) at $84.27, up 6.32% Gold Futures (Aug) at $4,012.35, down 0.65% Silver Futures (Sep) at $57.63, down 0.29%
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $64,190.64, up 1.72% Ethereum at $1,904.04, up 1.73% BNB at $568.97, up 0.45% XRP at $1.07, up 2.08% Solana at $73.54, up 0.91%
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
