Morning wrap (24.03.2021)

• US indices finished yesterday's trading lower. S&P 500 dropped 0.76%, Dow Jones declined 0.94% and Nasdaq finished 1.12% lower. Russell 2000 dropped more than 3%

• Stocks in Asia are trading lower as well. Nikkei dropped 2%, Kospi moved 0.2% lower and indices from China declined. S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5%

• DAX futures point to a lower opening of the European session

• Fed Bullard expects 6.5% GDP growth and an unemployment rate below 4.5% this year. Fed Brainard said that he expects some transitory inflation pick-ups

• Hong Kong and Macau has halted vaccinations with BioNtech vaccine due to packaging defects

• Biden said that 100 million stimulus check will be distributed by today

• Honda decided to extend production halts in some North American plants amid supply chain issues. Intel announced that it will spend $20 billion to build to chip factories in Arizona

• A massive container ship got stuck in Suez Canal, blocking the waterway in both directions

• South Korea confirmed that North Korea has launched 2 missiles on Sunday

• API report signalled a 2.93 million barrel build in oil inventories (exp. -0.9 mb)

• Japanese manufacturing PMI for March came in at 52.0 pts (exp. 51.3 pts)

• Oil is trying to recover following yesterday's massive sell-off. Brent climbed back above $61 while WTI trades above $58

• USD and JPY are the best performing major currencies while AUD and NZD lag the most

WTI (OIL.WTI) plunged over 5% yesterday. Price of the commodity dropped below the 50-session moving average and reached a 6-week low. Bulls managed to halt declines at around $57.75 per barrel - the lower limit of the Overbalance structure - and now a recovery attempt can be spotted. Source: xStation5