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With key Asian markets (China and Japan) closed for the second day in a row, Europe's share markets struggled early on even as US equity futures levitated form session lows... ... after the Fed crushed hopes that it is preparing its first interest rate cut in years, as Powell said inflationary pressures were "transitory", sending 2019 rate cut odds sliding. As a result, stocks were mixed on Thursday as, in Bloomberg's words "investors switched their focus from monetary policy back to company earnings and the outlook for global trade". The dollar was little changed, while treasury yields continued their ascent. Starting off the overnight session, Asian trading was thinned by holidays in Japan and China but Hong Kong and Korea's stocks gained after CNBC reported the U.S. and China could announce a long-awaited trade deal by May 10, as Chinese Vice Premier Liu He heads to Washington . Though now expected by markets if confirmed, it would remove ...

The Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, just wrapped up its two-day meeting. As expected, the federal funds rate remained the same, but that doesn't mean that nothing significant happened. In fact, some potentially dovish language has been added to the committee's statement, which may reduce the probability of further interest rate hikes. Here's a quick recap of what changed and what didn't, as well as what investors should expect going forward. Interest rates haven't changed As was  widely expected , the FOMC decided to keep the federal funds rate constant, at a target range of 2.25%-2.50%. However, the committee made an adjustment to interest paid on excess reserves, which is now to be 2.35%, a 5-basis-point reduction. To be clear, this is a technical adjustment designed to prevent the federal funds rate from climbing too high within the target range. It isn't a shift in monetary policy. The Fed's statement  has  changed a b...

U.S. Economic Data Suggest Positive Momentum in Second Quarter - Bloomberg U.S. Economic Data Suggest Positive Momentum in Second Quarter Reade Pickert A slew of U.S. economic reports out Tuesday gave mostly positive signals on second-quarter growth following an unexpectedly strong expansion in the first three months of the year. While first-quarter employee compensation, March pending home sales and April consumer confidence all showed solid readings, a gauge of Chicago business activity fell to a two-year low. Meanwhile, home prices in 20 cities rose in February at the slowest pace since 2012. For domestic consumption, "these numbers tell you that the second quarter is going to look bright," said Jacob Oubina, senior U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets LLC. He said the weaker reading on the Chicago measure may be due to severe flooding in the Midw...

Economists See Fed on Hold Through 2020 With No Cut: Survey By  Christopher Condon  and  Catarina Saraiva April 26, 2019, 12:00 AM EDT Updated on  April 26, 2019, 11:32 AM EDT Fed watchers say central bank is ignoring Trump's criticism Most doubt Stephen Moore will ever be confirmed to Fed Board The Fed Is Far From Cutting Rates, Princeton's Dudley Says The Federal Reserve won't ease interest rates if core inflation softens, according to a new Bloomberg survey of economists, contradicting investors who expect the central bank to cut later this year. Respondents to the April 23-25 poll saw the target range for the benchmark federal funds rate staying right where it is -- at 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent -- through 2020, according to median expectations. Only two of the 39 economists polled forecast a rate cut in 2019. Pricing in interest rate futures, meanwhile, showed investors assigned almost a 70 percent probability to a rate cut by December. {"uid":0.97671...