Trade overview: current reports, trends, indices, stock prices, bonds, foreign exchange and commodities and analyst recommendations
07:15
Trading in the Asian stock markets is being conducted in a mixed trend this morning, while the world’s investors are alert and waiting for the inflation data to be published at 15:30 in the USA (and more on that later).
In Tokyo and China, increases of 0.4%-0.6% are recorded in the main stock indices and in Australia the trend is similar. In Hong Kong, on the other hand, the Hang Seng index retreated by 0.6%, led by Chinese technology stocks, including Tencent, Alibaba, Xiaomi and Meituan – which recorded declines of 2%-3% each.
On Wall Street, there is stability in trading in the futures contracts of the leading stock indices. Last night saw a mixed closing: the Dow Jones advanced 0.3%, the Nasdaq shed 0.4% and the S&P 500 ended the trading day on the zero line.
In foreign exchange trading, the weakening trend of the shekel continues. The dollar jumps by 1% compared to the representative rate set yesterday and its rate is 3.66 shekels, the euro jumps by 1.3% to 3.999 shekels and the pound jumps by 1.1% to the level of 4.55 shekels.
Today, as mentioned, the consumer price index in the US will be published, with a monthly increase of 0.3% expected so that the annual inflation rate will amount to 5.2%, a significant cooling compared to 6% in February. At the same time, the core index that does not include food and energy prices is expected to rise from 5.5% to 5.6% at an annual rate. Tonight the minutes from the committee’s previous meeting will also be published, which may provide clues as to what to expect next.
These are not the only data that will be published regarding inflation in the US this week: the producer price index will be published tomorrow (Thursday) and the retail sales data will be published on Friday. All of these data, together with the employment report from last week, will be at the center of the discussions at the next meeting of the Fed’s Open Markets Committee in On May 3, you will have to decide whether to raise the interest rate again – and by how much.
The commodity market is stable at this time. Oil prices are almost unchanged – the US oil price is $81.4 per barrel and the Brent price is $85.6 per barrel. Gold, on the other hand, climbs by about 0.6% to the level of $2,017 per ounce – an increase of 5.5% on a monthly basis.
In the crypto market the trend is negative after the sharp increases recorded in the last few days. Bitcoin retreated slightly below the $30,000 line, which it reached yesterday for the first time in 10 months, and Ethereum is down 3% to $1,864.