US Markets Stock futures rose after investors reacted positively to the interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve. - Meta surged almost 20% overnight after announcing a $40B stock buyback and better-than-expected earnings.
- Apple, Alphabet, Ford, and Starbucks will report their earnings today.
- The current 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield is set at 3.40920%
| Dow Jones | 34,092.96 | 0.02% | | S&P 500 | 4,119.21 | 1.05% | | Nasdaq | 11,816.32 | 2.00% | | Russell 2000 | 1,960.81 | 1.49% | *Stock Market data as of the last closing bell. Data received directly from the reference indexes through ICE Data Services. Do you not understand any of these figures? Check out our explainer.
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Canadian Markets BMO Financial Group has closed a $16.3B deal to acquire Bank of the West. - BMO first announced its intention to purchase the U.S. bank 13 months ago.
- The deal will add 500 branches and 1.8 million customers across 32 states to BMO's network.
- The deal comes at a time when the U.S. is increasing regulatory scrutiny on the acquisition of American banks by foreign companies.
*Canadian stock prices are as of the last close. Data received directly from the references indexes through ICE Data Services
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European Markets European stocks were mixed across the continent but flat overall. - The Stoxx 600 was flat on Wednesday. Automotive stocks gained 1.3% to lead markets and healthcare stocks fell 1.2%, the worst-performing sector.
- Ams-Osram was up 5.8%, leading the Stoxx 600, after the semiconductor company announced it appointed a new CEO.
- According to preliminary data, the Eurozone's annual inflation rate was 8.5% in January.
| Euro STOXX 50 | 4,171.44 | 0.19% | | UK (FTSE 100) | 7,761.11 | -0.14% | | Germany (DAX) | 15,180.74 | 0.35% | | France (CAC 40) | 7,077.11 | -0.07% | *European stock prices are as of 7 am ET. Data received directly from the reference indexes through ICE Data Services.
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Asian Markets Stocks in Asia were up following the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. - The Hong Kong government announced that the economy shrank by 4.2% in Q4 2022. The data also showed that the city's GDP was down 3.5% in 2022.
- South Korea's Consumer Price Index rose by 5.2% in January, up from 5.0% in December.
- Adani Enterprises has canceled a follow-on public offering as shares in the group's companies continue to fall following the publication of a damning report alleging that the conglomerate was involved in stock manipulation, accounting fraud, and other financial irregularities.
| S&P Asia 50 | 5,132.72 | 2.82% | | Japan (Nikkei 225) | 27,391.85 | 0.16% | | South Korea (KOSPI) | 2,465.80 | 0.65% | | China (Hang Seng) | 22,165.52 | 0.42% | | India (SENSEX) | 59,270.91 | -0.73% | *Asian stock prices are as of 7 am ET. Data received directly from the reference indexes through ICE Data Services.
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Commodities Oil prices fell on Wednesday but rose on Thursday morning during Asian trading hours. - Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude were both down 3.1% on the day.
- On Thursday morning, Brent crude rose 0.7% and WTI gained 0.8%.
- EU member states are working on a deal to expand their price caps on Russian oil.
| Oil (NYSEARCA:OIL) | 29.31 | -2.72% | | Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) | 181.67 | 1.26% | | Silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) | 22.08 | 1.15% | | Corn (NYSEARCA:CORN) | 26.69 | 0.41% | | Lumber (NASDAQ:WOOD) | 79.14 | 0.89% | *Commodity prices are as of 7 am ET. Data from MarketWatch. To understand why investors track the prices of these commodities, click here.
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Currency Exchange Rates The U.S. Dollar hit a nine-month low after Fed chairman Jerome Powell announced a 25-basis point interest rate hike. - The European Central Bank and Bank of England will announce their interest rate decisions today. Both banks are expected to raise rates by 50 basis points.
- Analysts expect that U.S. data due out on Friday will show that 185,000 jobs were added in January.
*Exchange rates as of 7 am ET. Data from Morningstar Financial Research. To understand why we track these currencies and the differences between them, click here.
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Cryptocurrency Bitcoin rose on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve slowed down its pace of interest rate increases. - Meta's metaverse division, Facebook Reality Labs (FRL), lost $13.7B last year. FRL lost $4.3B in Q4 and made only $727M in revenue.
- Binance's BNB chain is testing a new decentralized storage system.
- Aptos Labs has given Cornell University's Blockchain Lab a $50,000 grant.
| Bitcoin | $23,863.20 | 4.51% | | Ethereum | $1,673.04 | 5.41% | | Litecoin | $100.88 | 7.17% | | Bitcoin Cash | $138.10 | 5.26% | *Exchange rates as of 7 am ET. Data from Morningstar Financial Research. To understand why we track these currencies and the differences between them, click here.
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 |  | Liam Gill is a founder, lawyer and investor.
He previously founded Fumarii Technologies, which became a top 20 ranked cloud computing service (Yahoo Finance! 2019) valued at over $30M. He holds an LLB Laws (UK), MSc Management and Master of Laws and currently practices law in Vancouver, Canada.
|   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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