Australia’s economy lost 52.8 thousand new jobs in February, the first such drop since March 2024,  and missing estimates of an addition of 30.8 thousand new jobs. 

Australia’s unemployment rate steadied at 4.1% in February as expected, same as January, showing the stability and resilience of the labor market. 

Most cryptocurrencies gained ground on Wednesday as demand resumes on high-risk assets, with ripple expanding its gains to become the third highest cryptocurrency in market value after bitcoin and ethereum. 

The Federal Reserve voted to maintain interest rates unchanged today at below 4.5%.

Fed officials said the US economy is growing strongly, and lauded the labor market as unemployment falls. 

However, the Fed still sees inflation as still high, asserting the ongoing goal of bringing inflation towards 2% in the long term.

Fed officials also revised their forecasts on interest rates and other economic indicators until 2027.

Fed’s growth forecasts for 2025 fell to 1.7% from 2.1% in previous forecasts, while the Fed expects core prices to rise by 2.8% this year, up 0.3% from previous forecasts.

The Fed still expects two interest rate cuts in 2026, and another cut in 2027, bringing long-term interest rates at around 3%.

Ripple is strongly buoyed by increasing demand and usage by banking services and cross-border money transfer companies.

Ripple

Ripple rallied 11% on Coinmarketcap as of 20:40 GMT to $2.49, with total market value rising to $145.2 billion.

Gold prices rose on Wednesday and hit yet another record high, while the dollar eked out gains against major rivals. 

The Federal Reserve voted to maintain interest rates unchanged today at below 4.5%.

Fed officials said the US economy is growing strongly, and lauded the labor market as unemployment falls. 

However, the Fed still sees inflation as still high, asserting the ongoing goal of bringing inflation towards 2% in the long term.

Fed officials also revised their forecasts on interest rates and other economic indicators until 2027.

Fed’s growth forecasts for 2025 fell to 1.7% from 2.1% in previous forecasts, while the Fed expects core prices to rise by 2.8% this year, up 0.3% from previous forecasts.

The Fed still expects two interest rate cuts in 2026, and another cut in 2027, bringing long-term interest rates at around 3%.

Otherwise, the dollar index rose 0.3% as of 19:45 GMT to 103.5, with a session-high at 103.9, and a low at 103.2.

On trading, gold spot prices rose 0.5% as of 19:46 GMT to $3055.3 an ounce.