ASIA:

The major Asian stock markets had a green day today:

• NIKKEI 225 increased 520.94 points or 1.93% to 27,466.61
• Shanghai increased 10.10 points or 0.31% to 3,265.75
• Hang Seng increased 332.67 points or 1.73% to 19,591.43
• ASX 200 increased 60.20 points or 0.87% to 7,015.60
• Kospi increased 28.61 points or 1.20% to 2,416.96
• SENSEX increased 139.91 points or 0.24% to 58,214.59
• Nifty50 increased 44.40 points or 0.26% to 17,151.90

The major Asian currency markets had a green day today:

• AUDUSD increased 0.00083 or 0.12% to 0.66763
• NZDUSD increased 0.00202 or 0.33% to 0.62132
• USDJPY increased 0.164 or 0.12% to 132.654
• USDCNY increased 0.00478 or 0.07% to 6.88068

Precious Metals:

• Gold increased 5.9 USD/t oz. or 0.30% to 1,946.05
• Silver increased 0.252 USD/t. oz or 1.13% to 22.627

Some economic news from last night:

New Zealand:

Westpac Consumer Sentiment (Q1) increased from 75.6 to 77.7

EUROPE/EMEA:

The major Europe stock markets had a green day:

• CAC 40 increased 18.21 points or 0.26% to 7,131.12
• FTSE 100 increased 30.62 points or 0.41% to 7,566.84
• DAX 30 increased 20.85 points or 0.14% to 15,216.19

The major Europe currency markets had a green day today:

• EURUSD increased 0.00234 or 0.22% to 1.07904
• GBPUSD increased 0.00279 or 0.23% to 1.22419
• USDCHF increased 0.00184 or 0.20% to 0.92394

Some economic news from Europe today:

UK:

CPI (YoY) (Feb) increased from 10.1% to 10.4%

CPI (MoM) (Feb) increased from -0.6% to 1.1%

PPI Input (MoM) (Feb) decreased from 0.4% to -0.1%

CBI Industrial Trends Orders (Mar) decreased from -16 to -20

US/AMERICAS:                        

The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to raise rates by 25 bps to a target range between 4.75%-5%. “The Committee anticipates that some additional policy firming may be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time,” the report stated. Absent from this statement is the previously mentioned “ongoing increases,” which has led some to believe that the Fed may begin to pump the breaks on rate hikes. There was widespread speculation on how the Fed would act in the face of recent bank failures, with some, such as Goldman Sachs, predicting that the central bank would not raise rates at all. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that America’s banking system remains “sound and resilient” but acknowledged that some conditions would change. “Recent developments are likely to result in tighter credit conditions for households and businesses and to weigh on economic activity, hiring, and inflation. The extent of these effects is uncertain. The Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks.”

US Market Closings:

• Dow declined 530.49 points or -1.63% to 32,030.11
• S&P 500 declined 65.9 points or -1.65% to 3,936.97
• Nasdaq declined 190.15 points or -1.6% to 11,669.96
• Russell 2000 declined 50.38 points or -2.83% to 1,727.36

Canada Market Closings:

• TSX Composite declined 122.14 points or -0.62% to 19,532.78
• TSX 60 declined 8.05 points or -0.68% to 1,173.00

Brazil Market Closing:

• Bovespa declined 777.5 points or -0.77% to 100,220.63

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a mixed day today:

• Crude Oil increased 0.707 USD/BBL or 1.01% to 70.376
• Brent increased 0.956 USD/BBL or 1.27% to 76.275
• Natural gas decreased 0.1472 USD/MMBtu or -6.27% to 2.2008
• Gasoline increased 0.0575 USD/GAL or 2.26% to 2.5964
• Heating oil increased 0.0433 USD/GAL or 1.61% to 2.7335

The above data was collected around 13:30 EST on Wednesday

• Top commodity gainers: Gasoline (2.26%), Palladium (2.73%), Cocoa (1.88%) and Cheese (2.11%)
• Top commodity losers: Rhodium (-5.08%), Coffee (-4.74%), Rapeseed (-3.46%) and Natural Gas (-6.27%)

The above data was collected around 13:36 EST Wednesday.

BONDS:

Japan 0.327% (+9bp), US 2’s 4.15% (-0.030%), US 10’s 3.5449% (-6.11bps); US 30’s 3.68% (-0.054%), Bunds 2.317% (+3.9bp), France 2.834% (+2.5bp), Italy 4.155% (+4.4bp), Turkey 11.86% (+5bp), Greece 4.229% (+1.8bp), Portugal 3.211% (+6.7bp); Spain 3.359% (+3.4bp) and UK Gilts 3.437% (+6.8bp).

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