28 Apr 2016
US equities to track global losses
The BOJ inaction on Thursday, where it was expected to announce a fresh round of stimulus measures to fight low inflation, shocked global financial markets.
That BOJ decision came after the US Federal Reserve kept its interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, but still left doors open for a possible rate-hike in June meeting. Equity markets across the globe declined sharply and the risk-off sentiment extended into European and US equity markets. At the time of writing, major US equity indices futures were trading with a loss of around 1%.
US GDP release failed to extend support
The risk-off sentiment coupled with weaker-than-expected reading for the first-quarter US GDP growth continued to weigh on investor sentiment. According to the Commerce Department US GDP grew at a 0.5% seasonally adjusted annualized rate in the Q1 2016, marking its slowest pace in two-years. The growth rate was below consensus estimates of 0.7%.
Tracking declines across Asia, European stocks fell with the major indices trading with losses of over 1%. In Asia, a sharp fall of over 3.5% in the Nikkei 225 index led to a sell-off in other Asian equity markets.
That BOJ decision came after the US Federal Reserve kept its interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, but still left doors open for a possible rate-hike in June meeting. Equity markets across the globe declined sharply and the risk-off sentiment extended into European and US equity markets. At the time of writing, major US equity indices futures were trading with a loss of around 1%.
US GDP release failed to extend support
The risk-off sentiment coupled with weaker-than-expected reading for the first-quarter US GDP growth continued to weigh on investor sentiment. According to the Commerce Department US GDP grew at a 0.5% seasonally adjusted annualized rate in the Q1 2016, marking its slowest pace in two-years. The growth rate was below consensus estimates of 0.7%.
Tracking declines across Asia, European stocks fell with the major indices trading with losses of over 1%. In Asia, a sharp fall of over 3.5% in the Nikkei 225 index led to a sell-off in other Asian equity markets.