By Laura Sanchez
Investing.com - Markets are digesting the commitment to a more hawkish US Federal Reserve (Fed). Meanwhile, today they are keeping a close eye on the minutes of the latest European Central Bank (ECB) monetary policy meeting.
Oil is up this morning.
Cryptocurrencies are down.
These are the five factors that investors will need to consider when making their decisions today:
1. Markets adjust to the Fed minutes
The commitment to rate hikes and stimulus withdrawal continues. It is the Fed's hawkish shift that is already evident in the minutes of the Fed's last monetary policy meeting released yesterday. Therefore, markets are adapting to the consensus that already discounts a rate hike of 50 basis points not only at the next meeting in May, but quite possibly at additional meetings later in the year.
2. ECB minutes
This Thursday we will be watching the minutes of the ECB's latest meeting, which will be released at 13:30 local time.
No news on rate hikes is expected; the focus will be on tapering.
3. Cryptocurrencies down
The cryptocurrency sector is trading in the red today. Bitcoin is trading at $43,000 and Ethereum at $3,200.
4. Asia and the US stock market
The main Asian indices are negative today. Nikkei fell by 1.6%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.4% and the Shanghai Composite dropped 1.2%.
On Wall Street, the market also ended yesterday in the red. The S&P 500 (-0.9%), Nasdaq (-2.2%) and Dow Jones (-0.4%) closed down.
5. Macro data
Key macroeconomic releases include German industrial production, French total reserve assets and Eurozone retail sales.
In the US, new jobless claims will be released and several FOMC members will speak.
In South Africa the JSE All Share index declined 1.2% to close at 74,359.03.
Follow the day's events on our economic calendar: https://za.investing.com/economic-calendar/