- Yesterday, a powerful wave of gains lifted the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Russell 2000 to record highs — an event that has occurred only 25 times in the 21st century.
- More than 300 stocks in the S&P 500 closed higher, led by technology names, with Nvidia and Intel at the forefront. Intel surged 23%, while the Nasdaq 100 added 1.1%. The Russell 2000 posted outsized gains, climbing 2.5%.
- FedEx shares jumped more than 5% after Wall Street’s close on the back of earnings results — a move likely to boost sentiment today across the broader U.S. logistics and freight sector.
- U.S. Treasury yields gave back earlier gains after data showed that new jobless claims fell by the most in nearly four years, easing some concerns about the health of the labor market.
- Today, investors will mostly digest secondary macro data from the UK and Germany. In focus, however, will be a scheduled phone call between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping around 1 PM GMT. Market volatility may also be elevated due to “triple witching” — the quarterly expiration of futures and options on financial markets.
- The Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged at 0.5%, in line with market expectations. The USDJPY pair is down nearly 0.3% today, while the US dollar index (USDIDX) is edging slightly higher. This has weighed on the EURUSD, with the main currency pair slipping about 0.1%.
- Sentiment in futures markets is mixed today. In Europe, cautious upward pressure is visible. The Italian ITA40 contract is down nearly 0.6%, while the UK100 is gaining more than 0.5%.
- In Asia, declines dominate, with the Japanese JP225 falling almost 1.8% amid rising Japanese government bond yields, which are on track to reach record levels and BoJ plan to sell ETFs at a scale similar to the disposal of stocks bought from banks in the 2000s.
- Energy commodities such as oil and gas started the session with slight losses, while agricultural goods on the CBOT — including wheat, soybeans, and corn — are posting modest gains.
- Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, sentiment has softened slightly; Bitcoin’s price has fallen below $117,000.
