World Market Trends

Strong earnings scorecard from the corporate sector helped set aside the negative sentiment surrounding the release of the recent FOMC minutes. The Fed minutes revealed that the Fed remained committed to rein in inflation even if it warranted a period of below-trend growth in real GDP to bring aggregate demand into better balance with aggregate supply.

Asian stocks finished with losses. Major European benchmarks are trading mostly on a positive note. Wall Street Futures are also trading in positive territory.

Dollar and the Dollar Index remained firm. Bond yields mostly hardened. Crude oil prices gained amidst the expected output cut by Russia and the hopes of a demand boost from China. Forecasts of a build in U.S. inventories capped gains. Gold prices slumped amidst fears of further rate hikes. Cryptocurrencies rebounded.

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

Stock Indexes:

DJIA (US30) at 33,141.20, up 0.29%
S&P 500 (US500) at 4,010.90, up 0.50%
Germany’s DAX at 15,466.45, up 0.43%
U.K.’s FTSE 100 at 7,897.30, down 0.42%
France’s CAC 40 at 7,321.66, up 0.31%
Euro Stoxx 50 at 4,261.45, up 0.44%
Japan’s Nikkei 225 at 27,104.32, down 1.34% (February 22)
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 at 7,285.40, down 0.40%
China’s Shanghai Composite at 3,287.48, down 0.11%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng at 20,351.35, down 0.35%

Currencies:

EUR/USD at 1.0600, down 0.01%
GBP/USD at 1.2037, down 0.06%
USD/JPY at 134.89, down 0.00%
AUD/USD at 0.6821, up 0.26%
USD/CAD at 1.3534, down 0.11%
Dollar Index at 104.59, up 0.01%

Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:

U.S. at 3.949%, up 0.66%
Germany at 2.54%, up 1.03%
France at 3.021%, up 0.77%
U.K. at 3.673%, up 1.97%
Japan at 0.500%, down 0.89%

Commodities:

Brent Oil Futures (Apr) at $81.06, up 0.57%
Crude Oil WTI Futures (April) at $74.41, up 0.62%
Gold Futures (Apr) at $1,833.45, down 0.44%

Cryptocurrencies:

Bitcoin at $24,279.47, up 0.52%
Ethereum at $1,664.55, up 1.30%
BNB at $311.39, up 1.10%
XRP at $0.395, up 1.42%
Cardano (ADA) at $0.3923, up 1.42%

Source: Read Full Article