In some ways, the global fallout is clear and obvious – the Japanese yen rose for a third day, another indication that it may be rediscovering its safe-haven mojo, bind yields slumped, and gold surged to a three-year high and a whisker away from a new all-time high.
Yet Asian markets, stocks at least, have been fairly unruffled.
The MSCI Asia-ex Japan index on Thursday had its best day since late March and is flat on the week, supported by the lower dollar and bond yields, and growing hopes that the Fed’s hiking cycle is over.
The Hong Kong tech index has outperformed the Nasdaq this week, although it is still on course for its fifth weekly fall in a row, its worst run since September last year.
If Asian markets get a steer from local events on Thursday, it will most likely come from China’s services PMI. The bar for beating the previous month is high – the last time services sector activity in China grew faster than March was almost three years ago.
Indonesia’s economy, meanwhile, is expected to have contracted 1% in the first quarter as lower commodity prices hit exports and higher interest rates restricted domestic demand, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
