Morning wrap (22.05.2025)

Weak demand for U.S. Treasury bonds translated yesterday into sharp declines on Wall Street (S&P 500: -1.6%, DJIA: -1.9%, Nasdaq: -1.4%, Russell 2000: -2.8%). Yields on 30-year U.S. bonds rose by over 10 basis points due to concerns about a deepening deficit and lack of consensus on Trump’s tax bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The U.S. Senate has unblocked the proposed stablecoin bill, allowing for debate and potential voting next week. Progress in the legislative process sparked euphoria in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin is up 2.9% to $111,370, Ethereum 4.9% to $2,632, and gains were also seen in contracts for Dogecoin (+4.7%), Solana (+3.9%), and Polygon (+3.9%).

In the Asia-Pacific region, pessimism from Wall Street is continuing. Declines are seen in the Chinese HSCEI (-0.14%), Japanese Nikkei 225 (-0.94%), South Korean Kospi (-1.17%), and Australian S&P/ASX 200 (-0.44%). Companies linked to Bitcoin are resisting the downward trend.

Baidu (BIDU.US) is down over 3% following its Q1 2025 earnings release, despite revenue exceeding forecasts, mainly driven by AI cloud services. Adjusted operating profit dropped 20% year-over-year, and the gross margin missed expectations. Revenue from its key search engine advertising segment also underperformed.

Australia's services PMI fell in May to 50.5 (previous: 51), while manufacturing PMI remained steady at 51.7. Expansion in Australian business is primarily due to continued growth in new orders and increased employment. However, the pace of growth has started to slow, along with business optimism.

Manufacturing PMI in Japan recorded a marginal increase to 49, in line with expectations (previously: 48.7).

In the forex market, volatility remains limited. The U.S. dollar index is flat, Japanese yen is recording the largest gains among G10 currencies (USDJPY: -0.3%), while the New Zealand dollar is the weakest (NZDUSD: -0.25%), depreciating in response to downgraded GDP forecasts by the New Zealand Treasury. The Australian dollar is rebounding (AUDUSD: +0.2%), and the EURUSD is up a modest 0.05% to 1.335.

Gold continues to rise by 0.6% to $3,333 per ounce, silver by 0.66% to $33.60 per ounce, while yesterday’s session standouts, platinum (-0.1%) and palladium (-0.3%), are seeing slight corrections.