Daily Summary: Wall Street declines, bitcoin holds $64,500 ahead of halving

The end of the week on the markets is nervous and disappointing for bulls. We mainly observe declines in stock markets. Today, technology companies are losing the most.

US100 records a 1.4% drop and falls back to the level of 17290 points. US500 records a 0.50% loss and is trading at the key support of 5020 points.

EURUSD gains today 0.10% to 1.0650, and yields on 10-year U.S. bonds fall to 4.62%.

Austan Goolsbee, from the Chicago Fed, commented that a soft landing in the United States may be more difficult to achieve as persistent high inflation in housing puts pressure on higher Fed rates, and progress in reducing inflation is "stuck in a deadlock."

American Express (AXP.US), an American financial services company, published today its results for Q1 2024. The report turned out to be slightly better than expected, and the shares gain almost 4.70%. The company's total revenues increased by 10.6% year-over-year to $15.80 billion.

Apple shares lose over 1% today and have slid to $162, close to 11-month lows after reports that Chinese regulators have asked Apple to remove Meta's apps, WhatsApp and Threads, available in China from its store. The company has already met with Chinese representatives, citing national security threats.

The VIX index erased the rapid gains it had recorded during the nighttime and early morning hours. Futures contracts fell in response to the likely shelling of Iran by Israel, as this situation did not provoke an immediate response, and Iranian media reassured that Israel's actions did not cause any serious damage.

Oil prices rose overnight by more than 4%, reacting to Israel's retaliatory attack on Iran. The attack was in retaliation for the massive rocket and drone bombardment of Israel carried out by Iran last week. However, later markets began to erase this move, and at the time of publication, oil gains just under 1%.

Gold contracts gain over 0.6%, and silver prices indicate an almost 1.8% increase. The momentum of the precious metals is favored by politics and lower chances of a soft economic landing if the Fed maintains rates too long, focusing on fighting inflation.

Goolsbee emphasized today that higher rates are likely to not remain without impact on jobs. The Bank of America's Fund Managers Survey indicated that equity markets have seen record outflows since December 2022.

Futures contracts on nickel are recording nearly a 5% increase, and metal prices have risen to levels of $19,500 per metric ton, unseen for nearly 30 weeks. The market prices in new Western sanctions on Russian nickel and the short-term risk arising from the trace rebuilding of LME stocks and the complicated supply landscape due to the closure of mines in Brazil and New Caledonia.

In the cryptocurrency market, we observe a slight reaction to the recent declines. Bitcoin gains 1.30% to the level of $64300, recovering losses after testing around $60000 earlier in the day.

In just a few hours, the Bitcoin halving will take place. After this event, the supply of new Bitcoin entering the market will be halved.