Rise and shine everyone.
Happy Monday. The big news today is bank earnings. After the solid quarter that JP Morgan reported, we’re keen to hear what the regional banks have to say. Make no mistake, JPM is the top bank in the world and their earnings don’t set a precedence for the regional banks.
Charles Schwab reports before the open today.
SpaceX launches Starship this morning - the most powerful rocket in the world.
US Markets slightly higher. Yields marginally stronger, Bitcoin drops below $30,000
Asia and Australia
Asian equities ended higher Monday as the risk-on sentiment of recent weeks continued. Markets led by Hong Kong that saw the Hang Seng end at its highest since late February, and in Shanghai where the Composite index closed at its highest since Jul-22. Japan higher again, South Korea and Taiwan also strong.
PBOC injected CNY170B via 1Y MLF operation Monday at an unchanged rate of 2.75%, and CNY150B maturing to give CNY20B net injection.
China's new home prices rose 0.5% m/m in March following February's 0.3% rise, third consecutive m/m increase.
Alibaba, JD.com restructure e-commerce operations to boost growth in sluggish market
Europe, Middle East, Africa
European equity indexes higher Monday, extending last week's strength which saw the region book the longest weekly gaining streak since early December into Friday's close.
ECB's Lagarde says US will not default on debt as it would have very negative consequences
Survey shows ECB expected to hike rates to 3.75% by July
Morgan Stanley strategists said European EPS will fall 10% in 2023 with substantial risks of downgrades due to a slowing economy, currency headwinds and margin contraction.
The Americas
House Speaker McCarthy to speak Monday at the NYSE about the debt ceiling
Merck to acquire Prometheus Biosciences for $11B to help bolster immunology portfolio
Taiwan Semiconductor considering cutting FY capex to $28-32B vs prior guidance $32-36B
Samsung considering replacing Google with Microsoft's Bing
Best Buy cutting in-store jobs in effort to cut costs, move toward ecommerce
Carlyle Group in talks to make "major investment" in Manchester United
Calendars
Earnings
Economic
(news taken from Reuters, FT, Bloomberg; Calendar from Trading Economics)