World Stock Markets Up In Wake Of Bank Of Japan Meeting; FOMC On Deck

Tokyo (Sept 21)  The Bank of Japan kept its negative interest rates unchanged following its regular monetary policy meeting Wednesday. However, the BOJ said it is now targeting its 10-year government bond, wanting to keep its yield at zero, and it said it will continue buying as many government bonds as necessary (quantitative easing). The marketplace read this news as monetary-policy dovish, although not aggressive, and world stock markets were supported on the news. The marketplace had mixed ideas on whether the BOJ would keep policy unchanged or initiate new stimulus.

Japan's Nikkei stock index immediately rallied on the BOJ news, after trading lower earlier in the day. Other Asian stock markets also rallied.
 European stock markets were also firmer. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward higher openings when the New York day session begins.

Now traders and investors are awaiting the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee (FOMC) Wednesday afternoon.
 Most market watchers don't think the Fed will raise interest rates today.
 The more likely date of any U.S. rate hike would be in December, according to the marketplace. However, some do think the Fed will raise interest rates by 0.25% today, including bond king Bill Gross.

In other overnight news, the Paris-based OECD think tank cut its estimate for world economic growth this year and next year. The OECD projected world economic growth at 2.9% in 2016 and at 3.2% in 2017.

Crude oil prices are higher Wednesday morning on short covering after hitting a six-week low Tuesday. Crude oil prices remain in a near-term downtrend. The other key outside market on Wednesday finds the U.S. dollar index trading slightly lower, amid recent choppy trading action on the charts.

Source: KirtcoNews