U.S. stocks traded relatively flat on Monday and Asian stocks seemed to echo the sentiment on Tuesday. The S&P traded in its tightest range so far this year on Monday, as traders sat to the side while waiting for the Federal Reserve to being its two-day policy meeting today. Approximately 6.18 billion shares changed hands on Wall Street on Monday, compared with 6.93 billion shares traded daily in the past 20 trading sessions. According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, market expectation for a Fed rate hike is 95.2 percent.
Also weighing on traders’ minds across the globe is the Dutch election which is scheduled for Wednesday and British Prime Minister Theresa May’s possible trigger of Article 50 which would formally begin the Brexit process. Trading volumes are expected to be thin on Tuesday as traders wait for the outcomes of these potential market-moving events.
Tuesday Morning’s Market Movements
The euro traded at $1.0654 on Tuesday morning, slightly lower than last week’s levels. The pound was also lower, trading at $1.2202. The dollar index stood at 101.39 .DXY, higher than Monday’s 101.2 level. The yen strengthened slightly against the dollar on Tuesday morning, trading up at 114.84.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index traded flat on Tuesday while China’s Shanghai composit gained 0.13 percent and the Shenzen composite gained 0.07 percent. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.62 percent despite the political uncertainty surrounding the impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-hye last Friday.