• Major European indexes finished today’s session in green
• Several US states are preparing to ease lockdowns
• WTI oil extends losses
• Several US states are preparing to ease lockdowns
• WTI oil extends losses
European indices finished today's session higher, as investors welcomed the fact that some countries are planning to gradually reopen their economies amid signs of a slowing coronavirus pandemic. Later this week France Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will present the government's plan to unwind the lockdown to the parliament. Germany authorized small retail businesses to reopen on Sunday and large companies should follow their footsteps in coming weeks. Italian goverment decided to lift a nationwide lockdown on May 4th as the country reported the lowest number of fatalities since mid- March. On Sunday, after six weeks of lockdown, children in Spain were allowed to go outside for the first time. Spanish government is planning to ease further restrictions imposed on March 14th to curb the spread of the pandemic. So far, among the major European countries, only Great Britain is breaking out from this trend. Today Borys Johnson has returned to work after recovering from coronavirus infection and warned it was still too dangerous to ease lockdown measures due to the risk of a second spike. Meanwhile, investors are looking forward to monetary policy meetings from the Fed which will take place on Wednesday and the ECB scheduled for Thursday. During today's session DAX 30 gained nearly 2.8%, FTSE 100 rose 1.6 % and CAC finished 2.6 % higher.
Similar moods can be observed on Wall Street despite the fact that number of confirmed coronavirus cases in US is approaching 1 million with more than 55K fatalities. Markets welcomed the news that the death toll reported on Sunday was the lowest since the end of March. The New York Governor Cuomo outlined a plan which aims to restore business activity in phases as early as May 15th starting with construction and manufacturing sector. Other states like Hawaii, Texas, Michigan, Alaska, Georgia and Oklahoma already started to lift some restrictions. Today Dow Jones rose 1.22 %, S&P500 advanced 1.32 % and Nasdaq is trading 1.22 % higher.
WTI oil prices fell by almost 30%, reaching $12 per barrel, due to concerns that recently announced production cuts might not be enough to offset declines in storage capacity and fuel demand. CNBC has reported that all available storage space at Cushing, Oklahoma has already been leased.
Economic calendar for Tuesday is almost empty. Spanish unemployment rate and CB Consumer confidence index from the US are the main releases scheduled for tomorrow. Also investor should pay attention to New York Fed Weekly Economic Index (WEI). A lot will happen tomorrow on the earnings front, as giants like Alphabet, Amazon Facebook, Microsoft and Apple will publish their quarterly results. Although massive stimulus have helped US equities to recover nearly 30% from March lows, some analysts believe that more gains may be limited with the economic damage growing, unless there is a breakthrough in the treatment of coronavirus.
FTSE 100 (UK100.cash) continues to go back and forth within a tightening range. Resistance at 5908.3 pts is doing a good job limiting the bullish movements of the index, while bears are limited by the upward trend line. Local support can be found at 5325.5 and resistance is located at 6374.0. Source: xStation5
