May 2026 in Figures
May 29, 2026
For many weeks now, Trump administration officials have been saying that a peace deal may be just around the corner, but the conditions for such have so far proven elusive. That hasn’t mattered. Repeat something long enough and people will come to believe it, and so financial markets in the third month of the Middle Eastern conflict took on a surreal tone, with the price of oil dropping quite sharply, equity markets rallying, and the dollar flattening out.
There were no central bank interest rate changes among the ones featured in the table below, and the number of other central banks where changes did occur was fewer than we’ve seen lately. Among the later group, those monetary authoritis that raised interest rates such as Moldova (+150 basis points), Norway, Georgia, Australia, Mauritius, and South Africa (each by 25 basis points), exceeded the list of central bank rate cuts in May such as the 25-bp reductions in Mexico and Israel.
Ten-year sovereign debt yields fell in Europe and Canada during May but rose on net in both the United States and Japan. The prices of gold and Bitcoin ended the month below their end-April levels.
| 10-Yr Yield | 5/29/26 | 4/30/26 | May Change |
| U.S. | 4.44% | 4.38% | +6 basis points |
| Germany | 2.94% | 3.03% | -9 |
| Japan | 2.65% | 2.51% | +14 |
| U.K. | 4.81% | 5.01% | -20 |
| Canada | 3.41% | 3.54% | -13 |
| Switzerland | 0.36% | 0.36% | 0 |
| CB Policy Rate | 5/29/26 | 4/30/26 | May Change |
| Fed funds target | 3.50/3.75% | 3.50/3.75% | 0 basis pts |
| ECB deposit rate | 2.00% | 2.00% | 0 |
| BOJ policy rate | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0 |
| BOE Bank Rate | 3.75% | 3.75% | 0 |
| Swiss Policy Rate | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0 |
| FX | 5/29/26 | 4/30/26 | Change in $ |
| EUR/USD | 1.1665 | 1.1732 | +0.6% |
| USD/JPY | 159.25 | 156.57 | +1.7% |
| USD/CHF | 0.7803 | 0.7812 | -0.1% |
| GBP/USD | 1.3467 | 1.3605 | +1.0% |
| AUD/USD | 0.7188 | 0.7199 | +0.2% |
| NZD/USD | 0.5989 | 0.5908 | -1.4% |
| USD/CAD | 1.3788 | 1.3583 | +1.4% |
| USD/CNY | 6.7662 | 6.8382 | -1.1% |
| Equities | 5/29/26 | 4/30/26 | May Changes |
| S&P 500 | 7585 | 7209 | +5.2% |
| Nasdaq | 26973 | 24892 | +8.4% |
| Djia | 51032 | 49652 | +2.8% |
| Dax | 25105 | 24292 | +3.3% |
| Nikkei | 60816 | 59285 | +2.6% |
| Ftse | 10409 | 10379 | +0.3% |
| Canada TSE | 34625 | 33945 | +2.0% |
| Swiss SMI | 13543 | 13136 | +3.1% |
| Commodities | 5/29/26 | 4/30/26 | May Change |
| Oil, $ per barrel | 87.89 | 105.1 | -16.4% |
| Gold, $ per ounce
Bitcoin, $ |
4599
73546 |
4630
76339 |
-0.7%
-3.7% |
Copyright Larry Greenberg 2026. All rights reserved.
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