Daily summary: Wall Street pulls back, weighed down by tech

• European equities near records
• Bitcoin sell-off
• US stocks pull back from record levels

European indices finished today's session little changed as the pace of vaccination seems to be accelerating in Europe, but this does not stop the progress of the fourth wave of the epidemic. Spanish Ibex 35 rose 1.14% on news that the EU's Covid digital certificate for travel is set to be launched in June 2021 and is aimed at allowing tourists who meet certain health criteria relating to Covid-19 to travel more easily throughout the EU. This week, European investors will focus on the ECB's monetary policy meeting on Thursday. The DAX 30 ended 0.6% lower at 15,368, close to last week's all-time high; the CAC 40 finished at an over two-decade high of 6,297; the FTSE 100 stood at 7,000, near a 14-month high.

US indices slipped from record levels today mainly due to weak performance of tech stocks exposed to the cryptocurrency market. Shares such as Tesla, which is a large bitcoin holder, Coinbase, Riot Blockchain and Marathon Digital fell today due to the sharp cryptocurrency sell-off which occurred during the weekend. Additional pressure on Tesla shares was caused by the accident in which two people died in Texas on Saturday night, and nobody was in the driver’s seat. It is still uncertain whether the car’s “Autopilot” system was engaged when the accident occurred. On the earnings front, Coca-Cola posted upbeat quarterly figures while IBM and United Airlines will report their earnings after the closing bell. On the coronavirus front, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said he believes the US will likely resume use of the J&J vaccine with a warning or restrictions attached.

Both WTI crude and Brent rose 0.40% and are trading respectively around $63.40 and 67.00 a barrel. OPEC+ is discussing downgrading the April 28 scheduled ministerial meeting and only having a JMMC monitoring meeting. Elsewhere gold erased early gains and is trading 0.30 % lower around to $ 1,771.00 / oz, while silver fell 0.60 %  to  $ 25.80 / oz as Treasury yields edged up but remained below recent highs while the dollar index fell to a 7-week low.

Gold launched today’s session higher, however buyers failed to break above major resistance at $1791, which coincides with the upper limit of the ascending channel, and price pulled back. Nearest support lies at $1755. However if break higher does occur, then upward move may be extended towards next resistance at $1817. Source: xStation5