Stock prices continued to be supported by earnings report optimism as traders looked ahead to a busy week of corporate results and the Fed meeting on Wednesday. The JPY made strong temporary gains as Japanese authorities likely intervened after it fell to its lowest level in 34 years. Japanese markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday, resulting in overall thin trading during Asian hours. We are also seeing generally muted market movement as investors await Amazon's earnings report and the Fed's upcoming interest rate decision on Wednesday.
With Amazon (Tuesday) and Apple (Thursday) reports due in the coming days, investors are hoping for further evidence that earnings from big tech companies can continue to drive equity markets. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% on Monday. Tesla rose more than 9% in premarket trading after the company cleared hurdles to launch its driver assistance system in China.
Yields on US government bonds continue to fall and the USD is also weakening. However, the current USD correction could be short-lived as some investors are worried about possible hawkish comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. US inflation shows little sign of moving lower – supported by a strong US labor market / wage inflation.
Oil prices have fallen slightly as US officials push for a peace deal between Israel and Hamas that would ease geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Stocks in Europe are also mostly up, gaining 47% after the company reached a lower-than-expected settlement in the U.S. over compensation payments in the Royal Philips connection with faulty sleep apnea devices. Deutsche Bank falls 6% after Postbank faces another round of litigation
So far we have seen another strong earnings season with around 80-81% of companies beating expectations. We expect muted moves today, but investors remain cautiously optimistic for now as Wall Street continued to make modest gains thanks to big tech companies.
👁 ROB'S MARKET OVERVIEW:
April 29, 2024
🌐/🇺🇸 Global Markets ↕️
Cyclical / Luxury Stocks ↕️
Tech/Growth Stocks ↕️/↗️
Financial Stocks ➡️
Defensive Stocks ➡️
Energy Stocks ↘️/➡️
Materials Stocks ↘️/➡️
💱 Forex
AUD ↗️/➡️ (continued gains with good risk sentiment, good performance China)
CAD, GBP, EUR ↗️/➡️
CHF ➡️
USD ➡️/↘️
JPY ↘️/➡️ (very volatile, as an intervention by the BoJ/Tokios is expected)
⚒ Commodity Markets ↗️
Oil prices ↘️/➡️
Natural Gas prices ↗️/↕️
Metal prices ↗️/➡️
Gold ↕️ (gold overall remains bullish benefits from weaker USD, lower yields)
⚡️Cryptos ↘️/↕️ (remains in volatile sideways movement after recent selling post Bitcoin halving; Range $62K – $65K)
(*↗️ bullish, ↘️ bearish, ➡️ sideways / stable, ↕️ mixed / volatile)
Your Robert
