Stock market today: World markets shoot higher after Fed's first rate cut in over 4 years
Markets in Europe and Asia have shot higher after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession in the U.S. with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates
Markets in Europe and Asia shot higher on Thursday after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession in the U.S. with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates.
U.S. futures were higher after a lackluster response on Wall Street to the Fed's move the day before. The future for the S&P 500 jumped 1.3% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8%.
Germany's DAX added 0.8% to 18,861.88 and the CAC 40 in Paris advanced 1.3% to 7,541.50. In London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.9% to 8,326.93.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index rose 2.1% to 37,155.33, lifted by major export manufacturers' shares. Toyota Motor Corp. surged 5.1%, Sony Group Corp. added 2.9% and Hitachi Ltd. climbed 5.8%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 2% to 18,013.16.
The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.7% to 2,736.02, while Taiwan's Taiex closed 1.7% higher.
South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2% to 2,580.80.
The Bank of Japan and the Bank of England are also holding monetary policy meetings this week. Neither central bank is expected to move on rates, though the language of what the officials say could be an indicator of later moves and still influence markets.
Because the Fed's half-percentage point rate cut was so well telegraphed, markets had already climbed in anticipation. So, Wall Street’s reactions to the 180-degree turn on its policy rate were relatively muted.
“Markets barely reacted to the Fed’s 50 (basis point) rate cut, on balance, and our base case is that further cuts won’t move the needle too much either,” Thomas Mathews of Capital
Read more on abcnews.go.com
