The S&P 500 is up 3.8 points (0.06%) this morning after the rally on Thursday with bonds and stocks soaring. Treasuries posted strong and very surprising gains, overlooking robust data and a solid rally on Wall Street. It was something of a buy-the-fact trade as hefty data was the well-advertised risk.
Key Market Movers:
- U.S. calendar has housing starts and consumer sentiment
- Canada calendar includes housing starts and wholesale trade
- Turkey banned cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets in transactions
- The dollar found a toehold in concert with Treasury yields lifting out of lows
- EGB yields have moved higher with stocks, Treasuries outperformed
- Eurozone HICP inflation confirmed at 1.3% y/y – as expected
- Eurozone sa trade surplus narrowed in Feb as imports picked up
- China Q1 GDP growth hit a record 18.3% y/y, quarterly growth slowed
The 10-year yield dropped 10 bps to 1.530%, the lowest in a month. The break of key technical levels added to the bid, with some haven demand too amid virus and vaccine worries and some geopolitical risks.
Markets will continue to digest yesterday’s bumper data round on Friday while keeping a close eye on earnings, which continue to roll in.
The U.S. calendar features March housing starts, expected to bounce to a 1.580 mln annual pace from 1.421 mln previously. The preliminary April University of Michigan consumer sentiment index is likely to pop to 89.0 from 84.9. Fedspeak has Kaplan on deck.
Stocks to Watch
The earnings calendar features reports from Morgan Stanley, HDFC Bank, PNC Financial, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, Kansa City Southern, Citizens Financial, and Ally Financial.
