{"id":84385,"date":"2026-03-19T18:53:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T07:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/?p=84385"},"modified":"2026-04-07T18:04:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:04:29","slug":"thursday-19th-march-2026-asia-pacific-markets-slide-as-fed-signals-prolonged-tight-policy-and-energy-prices-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/thursday-19th-march-2026-asia-pacific-markets-slide-as-fed-signals-prolonged-tight-policy-and-energy-prices-surge\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday 19th March 2026: Asia-Pacific Markets Slide as Fed Signals Prolonged Tight Policy and Energy Prices Surge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3>Global Markets:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>&nbsp;Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 2.08%, Shanghai Composite down 0.95% Hang Seng down 1.69% ASX down 1.63%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Commodities : Gold at $4,852.94 (-0.90%) Silver at $75.700 (-2.64%), Brent Oil at $112.04 (4.35%), WTI Oil at $96.46 (1.01%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rates : US 10-year yield at 4.272, UK 10-year yield at 4.7450, Germany 10-year yield at 2.9425<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>News &amp; Data:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>(USD) Core PPI m\/m&nbsp; 0.5%&nbsp; to 0.3%&nbsp; expected<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(USD) Federal Funds Rate&nbsp; 3. %&nbsp; to 3.75%%&nbsp; expected<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(CAD) Overnight Rate&nbsp; 2.25%&nbsp; to 2.25%&nbsp; expected<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>Markets Update:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3>&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Asia-Pacific markets declined on Thursday, following a weak session on Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded a new closing low for the year. Investor sentiment remained cautious after the Federal Reserve decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75%. Chair Jerome Powell signaled a more cautious outlook on rate cuts, noting that inflation has not eased as much as expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Adding to concerns, the U.S. producer price index rose 0.7% in February, significantly higher than the 0.3% forecast by economists. Despite persistent inflation pressures, the Fed\u2019s \u201cdot plot\u201d still indicates potential rate cuts in 2026 and 2027, though the exact timing remains uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Geopolitical tensions, particularly the ongoing Iran conflict, continued to drive energy prices higher. Brent crude surged 3.83% to settle at $107.38 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude edged up to $96.32 per barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Asia, investors are closely watching the Bank of Japan\u2019s policy decision, with expectations that rates will remain steady at 0.75%. South Korea\u2019s Kospi fell 2.54%, while the Kosdaq dropped 1.69%, with major chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both declining over 3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 lost 2.58%, and the Topix slipped 2.03%. Elsewhere, Australia\u2019s S&amp;P\/ASX 200 fell 1.56%, Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng dropped 1.62%, and China\u2019s CSI 300 declined 0.89%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Upcoming Events:<br \/><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>12:00 PM GMT &#8211; GBP Official Bank Rate<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>12:30 PM GMT &#8211; USD Unemployment Claims<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>01:15 PM GMT &#8211; EUR Main Refinancing Rate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global Markets: News &amp; Data: Markets Update: &nbsp; Asia-Pacific markets declined [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":84958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[196,215,339],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84386,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84385\/revisions\/84386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}