US equity futures are higher after four consecutive days of selling, although that is the same pattern we have seen all week as futures initially rise only to dump later in the day. As of 7:40am, S&P futures are up 0.3% while tech stocks were set to outperform, pushing the Nasdaq 0.4% higher after TSMC delivered a better-than-projected revenue outlook. An index of global chip stocks and AI poster child Nvidia fell into a technical correction amid the recent selloff, with Evercore ISI analyst Julian Emanuel thinking this is only the start, with the downdraft in stocks only starting and set to continue through the rest of 2024. The dollar steadied, while US Treasuries pared an earlier gain to trade flat. In Europe, major markets are higher with Spain/France leading and Germany lagging. Commodities are mixed: oil is falling further; precious and base metals are higher. Reports from Netflix and L’Oreal are due after the close of their respective markets. Investors will also be parsing initial US jobless data, the latest Leading Index and Existing Home Sales data, as well as speakers from a raft of central banks.
In premarket trading, semis are rebounding from yesterday’s post ASML selloff (MD +1.0%, NVDA +1.4% and MU +2.5%) after Taiwan’s TSMC, the main chipmaker for Nvidia and Apple, reported sales guidance that was better than expected and it stuck by plans to spend up to $32 billion over the course of this year, shoring up expectations for a sustained increase in AI demand. Also on the chip sector front, Micron Technology shares are up 1.5% in premarket trading after Bloomberg reported that the largest maker of US computer memory-chips is poised to get more than $6 billion in grants from the Commerce Department to help pay for domestic factory projects. MegaCap Tech are also mostly higher: AAPL +32bp and AMZN +23bp. Here are the other notable premarket movers:
In the last week, investors have been unwinding gains from a record rally in the first quarter as they come to grips with an overlever, overheating US economy and stubborn inflation that’s forced them to recalibrate rate bets. Money markets signal just two rate cuts by the Fed this year, starting in September, down from 7 at the start of the year, after a fresh round of hot inflation sent Treasury yields soaring to 2024 highs. Offsetting disappointment about the speed of rate cuts, though, investors are more optimistic about growth and the potential feedthrough to corporate profits, according to Peter Oppenheimer, global equity strategy chief at Goldman Sachs.
“Growth is fine, but we’re not likely to get the boost in terms of lower rates that the markets had expected,” Oppenheimer said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “That’s causing some indigestion, so earnings will really be crucial here.”
Overnight, Loretta Mester became the latest Fed official to warn it shouldn’t rush to cut rates. Meanwhile, Michelle Bowman said progress on inflation may have stalled and questioned the degree to which monetary policy is restraining the economy.
Elsewhere, Joe Biden ramped up his campaign rhetoric, calling China “xenophobic” and highlighting its economic woes, as he sought to make the case for US economic strength.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 rises 0.4% as investors weighed a slate of upbeat corporate earnings reports against concerns around higher-for-longer interest rates. The utilities sub-index leads gains while energy stocks fall the most. In company news, engineering company ABB hit another record high after it posted strong first-quarter earnings. Here are some of the biggest European movers Thursday:
Earlier in the session, Asia’s stock benchmark rebounded after a six-day selloff, as sentiment stabilized with the region’s currencies regaining some footing. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose as much as 1.1% but pared the gain to 0.6%, set for its best day since April 9. Tencent, Samsung Electronics and BHP Group were among the biggest contributors to the advance. Chip stocks were in focus as TSMC delivered a better-than-projected revenue outlook and stuck with plans to spend as much as $32 billion in 2024. Shares in Hong Kong were among the region’s best performers. Benchmarks in mainland China extended their advance to the second day following a clarification from the country’s securities regulator over delisting rules.
In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is down 0.1%, falling for a second day. The dollar has jumped about 4% this year, outperforming all major currencies, as reduced prospects for Fed rate cuts feed greenback strength and higher US yields. Separately, the Bloomberg Asia Dollar Index edged higher, supporting investor appetite toward the region. The yen was steady following a joint statement from US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen alongside the finance ministers of Japan and South Korea that noted “serious concerns” about the depreciation of the two Asian currencies. A global gauge of emerging-market currencies gained for a second day, suggesting some stability after hitting a 2024 low earlier this week.
In rates, treasuries erased an earlier gain US 10-year yields unchanged at 4.58%, near Wednesday’s low, trailing gilts by 1.5bp in the sector; curve spreads remain within 1bp of Wednesday’s close, inverted 2s10s around -35bp. Gilts outperform their German counterparts. $23b 5-year TIPS sale at 1pm New York time is week’s final coupon auction.
In commodities, oil prices added to Wednesday’s drop, with WTI down another 0.6% to trade near $82 a barrel, weighed by weaker Chinese industrial data and a swelling in US crude inventories, while gold rose. Spot gold rises 0.8% to around $2,379/oz.
Bitcoin was back above $62k after briefly dipping below $60k yesterday, while Ethereum finds support around $3k. Binance converted the entire pool of assets held in an emergency fund for users into USDC stablecoin. The fund serves as a backstop for customers in “extreme situations”, according to Bloomberg.
Looking at today's calendar, US session includes weekly jobless claims data, a packed Fed speaker slate and 5-year TIPS new-issue auction. US economic data slate includes April Philadelphia Fed business outlook and weekly jobless claims (8:30am), March Leading index and existing home sales (10am). Fed speakers include Bowman (9:05am, 9:15am), Williams (9:15am), Bostic (11am, 5:45pm) and Collins (12pm)
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A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
APAC stocks traded mostly higher after gradually shrugging off headwinds from the tech-led selling in the US. ASX 200 was led by the mining industry after BHP's encouraging quarterly production update. Nikkei 225 recovered all of its opening losses and returned to above the 38,000 level. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. conformed to the positive mood but with upside capped in the mainland by US-China trade frictions after President Biden called for an increase in tariffs on Chinese metals.
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European bourses, Stoxx600 (+0.3%) are mostly, but modestly firmer. Initially futures were lifted following strong TSMC results/guidance, though equities have tilted slightly lower in recent trade. European sectors are mixed, having initially held a positive tilt; Energy underperforms, given the slump in oil prices following bearish crude inventory data and geopolitical updates. Utilities is found at the top of the pile. US Equity Futures (ES +0.1%, NQ +0.2%, RTY +0.1%) are incrementally firmer, though ultimately resides around the unchanged mark; TSMC (-2.2%) beat on Q1 expectations and notes of strong AI demand, name was initially firmer in the pre-market but has since trimmed markedly and fallen into the red.
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FX
Fixed Income
Commodities
Geopolitics: Middle East
Geopolitics: Other
US Event Calendar
Central Bank Speakers
DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
I’m struggling at the moment. For the last 2-3 weeks all that I can hear in my head is Beyonce’s latest single (a number one around the world over the last few weeks) which if you haven’t heard is an irritatingly catchy country-style song. In quiet (and busy moments) all I have going on in my mind is a jaunty “It’s a real-life boogie and a real-life hoedown....” with the next line containing parental advisory lyrics so I can’t print! I need something to dislodge it before it drives me crazy and/or infiltrates my research.
Markets have been doing the “Do-si-do” this week as initial recoveries have given way to sell-offs as rates and concerns over events in the Middle East dominate, while weaker tech sentiment was a major driver yesterday as the day progressed. This morning we've seen more flipping as Asia is higher again. Before that, yesterday saw the S&P 500 peak at +0.5% near the open but closed -0.58% lower and with it lost ground for a 4th consecutive session, which last happened in early January. Moreover, the index has now shed over 3% over these last four sessions, which is the first time that’s happened since October 23, the same day that the 10yr Treasury yield moved above 5% intraday. To be fair, there was a recovery for bonds, but that was partly a risk-off move into safe havens, which pushed the 10yr Treasury yield (-8.0bps) down from its 5-month high the previous day to 4.59%. Lower oil which we'll discuss below also helped. Yields are another couple of basis points lower across the curve in Asia.
At the close, the S&P 500 had fallen by -4.42% from its all-time high at the end of March, which is more than double the largest pullback it had seen during its remarkable +27% rally that started in late October. The latest decline yesterday was led by tech stocks, with the NASDAQ down -1.15%, and the Magnificent 7 down -1.23%. Chipmakers in particular underperformed as the producer of chipmaking equipment ASML (-6.68%) reported a sizeable decline in orders in Q1. This saw the Philadelphia semiconductor index (-3.25%) fall to its lowest level in nearly two months, with Nvidia down -3.87% in sympathy. Small-cap stocks were still affected as well though, with the Russell 2000 (-0.99%) falling to a two-month low. T he main exception to this pattern came from Europe, where the STOXX 600 (+0.06%) stabilised after its worst daily performance in nine months. The index did close when the US equity market had only dipped to flat, but Euro STOXX futures have edged back into positive territory this morning after a strong Asia session with S&P (+0.30%) and Nasdaq (+0.43%) futures also rebounding again.
Overnight in Japan, we heard from the BoJ’s currency chief Kanda, who confirmed the central bank’s commitment on the yen. Kanda pushed back against a stronger dollar, stating that excessive currency moves harm the economy. Moreover, US Treasury Secretary Yellen acknowledged Japan’s worries over a sharp yen depreciation in a joint statement with her counterparts in Japan and South Korea after a trilateral meeting that suggested the US would give a green light to intervention in both currencies. The yen stabilised off the back of these comments and is now up +0.07% against the dollar as I type. The offshore Chinese yuan also held steady after the People’s Bank of China emphasised its commitment to preventing exchange rate overshoot in a strong dollar environment. Against this backdrop, Asian equities are mostly in the green. As I type, the Nikkei 225 is up +0.49%, the Hang Seng +1.16%, the Korean Kospi +1.71%, and in China, the CSI 300 and Shanghai Comp are up +0.61% and +0.55% respectively. Elsewhere, Australian unemployment came in at 3.8% (vs 3.9% expected), but the downside surprise was largely offset by an otherwise mixed jobs report.
The bond rally we discussed above has been helped by the latest decline in oil prices, with Brent Crude (-3.03%) closing at a 3-week low of $87.29/bbl, which came as the latest EIA report showed US crude inventories at their highest level in 9 months. And in Europe, natural gas futures also fell back after their recent advance, with a decline of -6.43% on the day. So a wild ride in commodities this week.
The decline in oil prices played out even as uncertainty remains over the direction of the conflict in the Middle East. Yesterday, Israeli PM Netanyahu met with UK Foreign Secretary Cameron and German Foreign Minister Baerbock yesterday, but he also said that “I want to make it clear - we will make our own decisions, and the State of Israel will do everything necessary to defend itself." The comments raised the prospect that some sort of response would still happen, and Cameron said that “It’s right to have made our views clear about what should happen next, but it’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act”.
Back in Europe, the decline in yields was more modest with yields on 10yr bunds (-2.1bps), gilts (-3.7bps) and OATs (-2.8bps) all seeing moderate dips. The moves were more muted at the front-end, at +0.6bps for 2yr bunds and -1.0bps for 2yr gilts. In part, that reflected continued concerns about sticky inflation following the UK’s latest inflation data, which showed that headline CPI only fell back to +3.2% in March (vs. +3.1% expected), whilst core CPI was also a tenth above expectations at +4.2%.
That led investors to dial back the likelihood of a June rate cut by the Bank of England to less than 25% intra-day from 38% the previous day, though this rose back to 35% in part thanks to fairly dovish comments from Governor Bailey. He noted that with the latest inflation data “we are actually pretty much on track” with what the BoE projected back in February. Our UK Economist Sanjay Raja has pushed back his expectation of the first cut from May to June but still sees an additional 50bps this year split between September and December. The terminal rate of 3% will be hit in H1 2026. See his report here for the full explanation. Meanwhile, there was little change in ECB pricing with ECB commentary continuing to point to a rate cut at the next meeting in June. Bundesbank President Nagel, one of the more hawkish ECB voices, said that “a rate cut in June has become more likely” although “there are still some caveats”.
Finally, the IMF published their latest Fiscal Monitor yesterday, which projected that government debt would continue to rise globally over the years ahead. Their forecasts for general government gross debt saw an increase globally from 93.2% of GDP in 2023 to 98.8% by 2029. For the United States, it saw debt rising from 122.1% in 2023 to 133.9% in 2029.
To the day ahead now, and US data releases include the weekly initial jobless claims, the Philadelphia Fed’s business outlook for April, the Conference Board’s leading index for March, and existing home sales for March. From central banks, we’ll hear from ECB Vice President de Guindos, the ECB’s Nagel, Centeno, Simkus and Vujcic, the Fed’s Bowman, Williams, and Bostic, along with the BoE’s Greene.
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