EconCurrents

Today ends a shorter week for Wall Street as it heads into the Easter weekend, ending the trading week at the closing bell. In addition, the U.S. stock markets will be closed tomorrow for Good Friday.

The equities open higher this morning only to slip downward with NASDAQ sharply off session highs. Bank earnings share Wall Street’s fall today, inflation fears, and the Ukraine war continues to shake investors. Now, investors are digesting a flurry of mixed quarterly reports from Wells Fargo (WFC), Goldman Sachs (G.S.), Morgan Stanley (M.S.), and Citigroup (C).

This morning’s financial report showed Initial Jobless Claims 09/APR rose to 185K from 167K. Moreover, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Prel APR rose to 65.7 from 59.4. Adding to this are the super-high gas prices and the highest inflation in forty years that held back consumer spending as March retail sales slowed from their February levels.

A summary of headlines we are reading today:

• How Will Chinas New Lockdowns Impact Commodity Prices?
• Sustainable Recovery Spending Could Be Derailed By Commodity Price Spikes Following Ukraine War
• Retail Sales Rose 0.5% In March Amid Inflation Jump; Import Prices Hit 11-Year High
• Morgan Stanley Earnings Top Estimates Fueled By Trading Revenue Gains
  The Fed Just Disengaged Its Volatility Suppression Machine
• The Ratings Game: Elon Musk Says Twitter Shareholders Should ‘Love’ His Buyout Offer, But Wall Street Doesn’t Seem To Agree

These and other headlines and news summaries moving the markets today are included below.

Global equities rose today despite inflation scares and the continuing war in Ukraine. U.S. equities finished near session highs as bond yields slip, and Fed’s Waller says inflation may have peaked – NOT! Stocks rally on mostly positive earnings, snapping a 3-day losing streak for the S&P 500, closing up 1.1%.

Salient notes from the Labor Department’s report:

“Gasoline prices skyrocketed 48%, and one analysts says, breakfast cereal is the new reserve currency because cereal prices jumped 9.2%. Not outdone, meat prices have spiked even more to a scary 14.8%. Men’s jackets, suits, and coats will cost you 14.5% more, and airline fares rose 10.7%. Think again about buying a used car. Prices have spiked 35% over the past year.”

A summary of headlines we are reading today:

• India Faces Coal Shortage, Again
• U.S. Energy Grid Faces Huge Problems Amid Push To Electrify Everything
• Jamie Dimon Sees ‘Storm Clouds’ Ahead For U.S. Economy Later This Year
• Russian Oligarch Roman Abramovich Has $7 Billion In Assets Frozen In Jersey In Latest Ukraine Fallout

These and other headlines and news summaries moving the markets today are included below.

The last hour of trading saw the three major Wall Street indexes slip perceptibly down from morning highs to close deep into the red. The markets gapped up at the opening into the green only to slide with lower highs and lower lows. Although the closing numbers are not as drastic as some past sessions have been, they mark the penetration of solid support. The next support for the DOW appears to be at 33,500. The tech-heavy NASDAQ has lost more than $1 trillion in market value in just the past five trading sessions.

Analysts blame the fall on the CPI, reporting a whopping 8.5% Y/Y for March. Today, stocks fell after an early morning bounce gave way to selling as investors weighed the latest U.S. inflation data. The report showed another sharp increase in prices as inflation hit a 41-year high. (Inflation Rate rose to 8.5% from 7.9%) However, there are signs price hikes could slow down soon, say some analysts.

“It’s going to be ugly,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “It’s a perfect storm – Russian invasion, surging oil prices, China locking down, further disruptions to supply chains, wage growth accelerating, unfilled positions. Just a kind of scrambled mess leading to painfully high inflation.”

A summary of headlines we are reading today:

• Oil Prices Rise As Chinese Demand Begins To Rebound
• Airfare Surged 20% Over Pre-Pandemic Levels In March As Inflation Hit Vacations
• Giant Undersea Cables Set To Give The U.K. And Germany Their First Direct Energy Link
• Pentagon Treats Azov Claims Of Russian Chemical Attack With Caution After the U.K. Amplified Them
• Mood On Wall Street Is Apocalyptic, Yet Nobody Wants To Sell: Here’s Why
• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana Crash Up To 30% In A Week

These and other headlines and news summaries moving the markets today are included below.

Wall Street Stocks extended losses in its final hour of trading today, emphasizing investors’ fears of deepening inflation and the inability of the Federal Reserve to control it. The DOW closed lower on losses for shares of Microsoft and American Express. The indexes were pulled lower largely by technology shares as U.S. Treasury yields marched higher.

Bitcoin fell below $40,000 as investors assessed global macro risks, inflation, and a possible recession. Bitcoin could dive to as low as $30,000 by June, considering its strong correlation with tech-heavy equities, according to Arthur Hayes, co-founder of crypto exchange BitMEX. But, Mr. Hays says, “as long as bitcoin trades above its fair valuation of $38,000, there shouldn’t be a crash.”

A summary of headlines we are reading today:

• Oil Sands Financing From Canadian Banks Doubles
• Russian Oil Exports Rebound, But Struggle To Find Buyers Outside Asia
• Oil drops, Brent crude falls below $100 as China lockdowns spark demand fears
• JPMorgan’s Resident Permabull Marko Kolanovic Says “Take Profits”

These and other headlines and news summaries moving the markets today are included below.

The DOW climbed 230 points, or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 remained flat after the three main indexes opened the session in the red. The NASDAQ Composite ended down on pace for its first weekly loss in four weeks.

U.S. stocks closed mixed today, with investors continuing to contemplate the next policy moves and investors braced for tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.

Oil prices rose 2% today and recorded their second straight weekly decline. Brent crude futures settled up $2.20, or 2.19%, at $102.78 a barrel. Brent dropped 1.5% this week while WTI slid 1%.

Also, in the news, Campbell Harvey said, the recent brief inversion of the 2-year, 10-year Treasury spread “needs to persist for three months to provide a meaningful signal. When it comes to the slope of the yield curve, flat is bad, and inverted is really bad.” Also commenting, a recession has not been signaled yet.

A summary of headlines we are reading today:

• Bearish News Is Mounting For Oil
• Permian Takes The Lead As U.S. Drillers Add 16 Rigs
• Jeep Says Its New Electric Wrangler SUV Concept Goes 0-60 Mph In 2 Seconds
• Palladium, Platinum Soar After London Market Blocks Russian Products
• Two-Year Treasury Yield Has Biggest Five-Week Advance In Almost 15 Years As Yields Rise Across The Board

These and other headlines and news summaries moving the markets today are included below.

U.S. stocks stage a comeback today, showing the three main Wall Street indexes closed higher after two days of back-to-back losses tied to the Fed’s Wednesday plans to control inflation. In addition, initial Jobless Claims were lower this morning while Continuing Jobless Claims were higher.

In other news, Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp, and Tesla Inc. stocks rose today and outperformed the market, while Netflex Inc. stock fell.

A summary of headlines we are reading today:

• Shell Faces $5 Billion Impairment Charge Over Exit From Russia
• Macy’s Warns That Inflation-Squeezed Consumers May Choose To Spend On Travel Over Shopping
• Walmart Says It Is Raising Truckers’ Pay And Starting A Training Program As It Grapples With A Driver Shortage
• Terror Attack On Busy Tel Aviv Bar District Leaves Two Dead, Eight Wounded – Large Manhunt Underway
• DHS Giving Cell Phones To Illegal Border-Crosser’s: White House

These and other headlines and news summaries moving the markets today are included below.