Europe
Most European markets are closed today for public holiday,s with the FTSE 100 inching higher in low trading volumes while investors sit on the sidelines to wait out the Fed Reserves policy decisions. On Wednesday morning, the FTSE moved up 0.3 per cent pumped up by mining giants BHP Billioton and Rio Tinto, who paid little notice of the Chinese PMI data.
Asia
Asian stocks opened Wednesday mixed after the Chinese PMI data release which gave a reading of 50.6, a drop from last month’s 50.9. Although this was under the expected 50.7, it still rises above the 50 target which indicates growth. Most Asian markets are closed today except for Australia with the S&P/ASX 200 which declined by 0.30 per cent on back of weak manufacturing data there and of course Chinese PMI data which affects Australia as its biggest trading partner. NZSE 50 crept down 0.08 per cent. The Nikkei closed 0.4 per cent down.
US
U.S. stocks on talks of Federal Reserve easing measures ended Tuesday up. DJIA closed up 0.14 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.25 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 0.66 per cent. Housing and Consumer confidence data beat expectations, which helped boost the stocks. The U.S. home price index increased by 9.3 per cent in February from the previous. Beating analyst expected figure of 9.0 per cent gain. U.S. consumer confidence smashed the expected reading of 60.8, to come in at 68.1 after Marchs reading of 61.9.
Forex
Most investors stayed away from the currency markets, waiting for Fed Reserve and ECB meeting outcomes, so little volume of trading. GBP gained a modest 0.07 per cent in overnight against the dollar and was up 0.06 per cent against the euro. The USD is mostly lower against its counterparts before the results of the Fed Reserve policy meeting. The USD traded at close to 2 week lows against the EUR with the pair up 0.12 per cent to 1.3179. The USD/YEN pretty much unmoved ahead of meeting too.
Commodities
You could hear a pin drop in the commodities markets too with investors perching on the sideline in anticipation for the central bank outcomes. Crude oil made slight falls while traders wait for the stockpile data coming out later today. Crude price for June delivery was trading at $92.74 a barrel in this morning’s session, a marked 0.08 per cent on the previous day. Natural gas was down while investors started taking profits a drop of 1.06 per cent. Thursday marks the release of the US data supply report. It’s expected that increases will be below expectation.
Today’s Trading
All eyes will be firmly placed on the outcome of both the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve Meeting. This should pump some excitement into the otherwise flat trading markets.