CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Market spotlight has turned on the European Central Bank's interest rate decision that would be known on Thursday morning. The ECB is widely expected to ease rates by 25 bps. The Swiss National Bank had earlier in the day cut its key policy rate by 50 bps to 0.5 percent beating market expectations of a smaller cut of 25 bps.
After the monthly consumer price inflation data from the U.S. that matched market forecasts, markets now wait for the producer price inflation for November which is expected to remain steady.
With latest CPI data in-line, the probability of a quarter-point rate cut in the Fed's review next week has jumped. The CME FedWatch tool shows rate cut probability increasing to 98.6 percent and the probability of a status quo decreasing to 1.4 percent.
Wall Street Futures are trading lower amidst disappointing sales guidance from software giant Adobe. European benchmarks are trading mixed ahead of the ECB decision. Asian benchmarks closed on a mostly positive note.
The Dollar Index edged down. Bond yields mostly hardened. Crude oil prices traded just below the flatline amidst the International Energy Agency raising the 2025 oil demand forecast. Concerns about the long-term outlook on interest rates and inflation dragged down gold prices. Cryptocurrencies rallied.
Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.
Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 44,063.70, down 0.19% S&P 500 (US500) at 6,072.80, down 0.19% Germany's DAX at 20,422.05, up 0.04% U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 8,315.30, up 0.15% France's CAC 40 at 7,415.03, down 0.11% Euro Stoxx 50 at 4,956.75, down 0.05% Japan's Nikkei 225 at 39,896.50, up 1.27% Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 8,330.30, down 0.28% China's Shanghai Composite at 3,461.50, up 0.85% Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 20,397.05, up 1.20%
Currencies:
EUR/USD at 1.0497, up 0.03% GBP/USD at 1.2742, down 0.06% USD/JPY at 152.25, down 0.13% AUD/USD at 0.6403, up 0.56% USD/CAD at 1.4148, down 0.06% Dollar Index at 106.64, down 0.07%
Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 4.302%, up 0.70% Germany at 2.1515%, up 0.91% France at 2.903%, up 0.21% U.K. at 4.3930%, up 1.67% Japan at 1.041%, down 0.76%
Commodities:
Brent Oil Futures (Feb) at $73.51, down 0.01%. Crude Oil WTI Futures (Jan) at $70.33, up 0.06%. Gold Futures (Feb) at $2,743.09, down 0.49%.
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $100,531.20, up 2.51% Ethereum at $3,895.06, up 5.18% XRP (XRP) at $2.40, up 2.19% Solana at $230.50, up 3.29% BNB at $721.07, up 4.67%
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