Financial Markets Daily Report16 April 2024
Stronger-than-expected March retail sales in the US casted further doubts on the Federal Reserve’s motives to cut interest rates as soon as this summer. Markets now price a mere 20% probability of a cut in June, and 50% for July.
- Stronger-than-expected March retail sales in the US casted further doubts on the Federal Reserve’s motives to cut interest rates as soon as this summer. Markets now price a mere 20% probability of a cut in June, and 50% for July.
- In this context, sovereign bond yields rose across the board, reversing some of the previous’ session falls, and equities ended sharply lower in US markets despite some positive Q1 results from the major banks. The main equity indices in the euro area were mixed.
- Elsewhere, oil prices eased slightly to $90/barrel of Brent, as the weekend’s attacks from Iran to Israel caused few damages, and European and American leaders are pushing for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
- This morning official data confirmed China’s GDP grew 5.3% yoy in 1Q 2024, up from 5.2% last quarter and beating analysts’ consensus of 4.8%, driven by the government’s effort to support the mafucaturing sector.