Charting the Markets: Investors Braced on Fed Day
Australia's dollar drops, Volkswagen defies profit warning, and Sweden's krona responds to QE.
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Global stocks are little-changed as investors await the outcome of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting. Although there's next to no chance of the Fed hiking rates — Bloomberg data put the odds at 4 percent — the policy statement will be dissected for clues on when the cost of borrowing might rise. When that eventually happens, it will be the first hike since 2006.
Since the U.S. central bank held interest rates at a record low on Sept. 17, citing "recent global economic and financial developments," the MSCI AC World Index has risen 2.8 percent. Emerging market stocks have jumped 4.3 percent as expectations for a change in U.S. monetary policy are pushed back into 2016.