- Wall Street indices finished yesterday’s trading lower as renewed concerns over regional banks weighted on sentiment
- S&P 500 dropped 0.72%, Dow Jones moved 0.86% lower and Russell 2000 plunged 1.18%. Nasdaq was an outperformer as it dropped ‘only’ 0.49%
- PacWest Bancorp dropped 50% and Western Alliance traded 38% down amid reports that those banks are exploring potential sale, First Horizon tumbled 33% after it terminated merger agreement with TD Bank
- Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mixed today – Australian and Hong Kong shares gained, Chinese and India indices dropped while equities in South Korea traded flat
- DAX futures point to a slightly higher opening of the European cash session
- According to a Reuters report, Russia and India have put efforts to settle bilateral trade in rupees on halt. It is said that switch to INR settlements would leave Russia with large and undesirable surplus of rupees
- Russian deputy prime minister Novak said that Russia plans to stick to an earlier-announced 500k bpd oil output cut until the end of 2023
- Chinese Caixin services PMI dropped from 57.8 to 56.4 in April (exp. 57.0)
- Apple reported fiscal-Q2 EPS at $1.52 (exp. $1.43) and revenue at $94.84 billion (exp. $92.96 billion), driven by strong iPhone sales. Company authorized $90 billion in additional buybacks. Stock jumped 2.5% in the after-hours trading
- Major cryptocurrencies are trading slightly higher today. Bitcoin gains 1.3% and climbs back above $29,000 mark while Ethereum adds 1.1% and approaches $1,900 area
- Oil is trading 0.7-0.8% higher while US natural gas prices drop 2%
- In spite of USD weakening, precious metals trade mixed – gold drops 0.1%, silver trades 0.2% lower, platinum adds 0.2% and palladium gains 0.8%
- AUD and NZD are the best performing major currencies while USD and CAD lag the most
Better-than-expected earnings from Apple provided support for US100 during an overnight session. However, gains on the index were halted in the 13,115 pts area and the index has traded sideways since. Source: xStation5