A gauge of global stocks dipped on Wednesday while the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields fell after economic data showed signs of a softening labor market and boosted hopes a pause to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate-hiking cycle could be on the horizon.

U.S. private employment increased by 106,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment report showed on Wednesday, short of the 178,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters, although the drop was attributed to bad weather in some parts of the country.

Other data showed that job openings rose to 11.012 million in December from 10.44 million in the prior month, suggesting the labor market remains strong.

Investors have viewed a weaker labor market as a key component to bring down stubbornly high inflation.

The data comes ahead of the Fed’s policy announcement scheduled for 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) in which the central bank is largely expected to raise its target interest rate by 25 basis points (bps) but keep a hawkish tone as it seeks to tighten financial conditions. Markets have been pricing in the possibility of a rate cut by the Fed in the back half of the year.

“The market has been easing financial conditions, which has got to be concerning to (the Fed); there is no question about it and that is going to be tricky for them to talk down, so they are going to have to come out with some new and different ways to retain optionality and keep financial conditions tight, if not try to tighten them more from here,” said Jake Remley, senior portfolio Manager at Income Research + Management in Boston.

“This idea they are going to start cutting the rate later this year, they reiterated over and over again they are not going to do that, but the market continues to think this dovish pivot is closer to at the money than they are trying to make it out to be.”

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks fell in early trading ahead of the Fed announcement, with each of the 11 major S&P sectors lower, led by a 1.53% decline in energy shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 320.49 points, or 0.94%, to 33,765.55, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 19.66 points, or 0.48%, to 4,056.94 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 53.64 points, or 0.46%, to 11,530.91.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said that its manufacturing PMI dropped to 47.4 last month from 48.4 in December, showing further contraction as higher rates dented demand for goods, although large layoffs among factory workers had not materialized.

Earnings season also continues to roll on, with Facebook owner Meta (META.O) reporting earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday. Later in the week will bring earnings from names such as Apple (AAPL.O) and Amazon (.AMZN.O).

European shares were slightly higher, aided by a 0.64% gain in industrial stocks . After the Fed announcement, the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England will make their policy statements on Thursday, in which each is largely expected to hike by 50 basis points.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) lost 0.17% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) shed 0.08%.

Data on Wednesday showed headline inflation in the euro zone moderated to 8.5% in January, from 9% in December, while core prices picked up to 7% from 6.9%, likely keeping pressure on the ECB to raise interest rates aggressively.

The dollar started February on a lower note, continuing its weakening trajectory of the previous four months. The dollar index fell 0.421%, while the euro was up 0.52% against the U.S. currency at $1.0918.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.64% versus the greenback at 129.27 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2322, up 0.02% on the day.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields also declined, as benchmark 10-year notes were down 2.4 basis points to 3.505%, from 3.529% late on Tuesday, although the two-year yield briefly turned higher after the most recent batch of economic data.

U.S. crude recently fell 0.6% to $78.40 per barrel and Brent was at $84.72, down 0.87% on the day.

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Beyoncé’s fans have been waiting for this day: the pop megastar finally announced that she will embark on the long-awaited Renaissance World Tour. She uploaded a post to Instagram early Wednesday morning with the caption: “RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR 2023,” and her official website has been updated to show the tour dates. The tour starts in May in Sweden and will hit Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Poland, before she makes her way to North America. The first date stateside will be in Philadelphia, Pa., in July and the tour will hit the major U.S. cities before wrapping up in New Orleans, La., on Sept. 27.

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Following the release of her seventh album, Renaissance, in July, fans have been itching for a tour announcement, in addition to music videos to accompany the songs. Beyoncé’s last solo tour was the Formation World Tour back in 2016 to support her sixth album, Lemonade. Following that, she went on the On The Run Tour with her husband, Jay-Z, in 2018 after releasing their joint project, Everything Is Love. The announcement of a new tour just before the Grammy Awards on Sunday raises suspicion that Beyoncé might be performing or, at the very least, attending the night’s festivities.

The singer is nominated for nine Grammys at this year’s awards ceremony, which are set to take place on Feb. 5 in Los Angeles. This year, she is up against Adele for multiple awards, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. There has been speculation about whether or not Beyoncé would be performing ever since the nominations were announced. The last time fans saw her perform on a major televised stage was at last year’s Oscars ceremony, where she performed “Be Alive” from the King Richard movie for the first time.

Read More: 6 Takeaways from Beyoncé’s New Album Renaissance

Beyoncé most recently took the stage for a private concert at the opening of the Atlantis The Royal resort in Dubai in January. However, she did not perform any songs from Renaissance. Also, given that Beyoncé unveiled the album’s title on Instagram as “act [one],” her dedicated fanbase has been busy theorizing what acts two and three might be. Some have hypothesized that the tour would be act two and then a concert movie would be act three. Others have ventured to guess that this is a three-part album and that Renaissance was just the beginning.

Tickets for the concert will not be an easy get if Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is any indication. Beyoncé’s fans can click on the date they would like to attend to register for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program and will then have to wait to see if they are given an access code to purchase tickets to the event. With Verified Fan and the “unexpected” traffic the pre-sale brought to the site, many Swifties likened the ticket-buying process to a warzone. The disastrous rollout drew ire from Swift’s fans and political officials alike. After the ticketing fiasco, the Senate held a hearing to look into whether Live Nation and Ticketmaster have a monopoly over the ticketing industry. This, coupled with the technical problems that Swift fans faced, have Beyoncé fans worrying that finding their way to an actual concert will be nothing short of an ordeal.