Morning wrap (04.05.2022)

• US indices finished yesterday's session higher. S&P 500 jumped 0.48%, Nasdaq added 0.22% and Dow Jones rose 0.20%
• Stocks in Asia traded lower. S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.10% and Kospi lost 0.17%. Nikkei and Chinese indices were closed for holidays. 
• DAX futures point to a lower opening of the European cash session today
• Analysts from BNZ, ANZ and Westpac all anticipate 50 bp hike in the Fed funds rate
• Beijing authorities closed around 10% of subway stations due to covid-19
• Goldman Sachs expects the RBA cash rate at 2.6% by the end of the year
• RBNZ Governor Orr says can't rule out a global recession in the months ahead
• Musk considers charging commercial/government Twitter users
• China’s independent refiners start buying Russian oil at steep discounts, according to Financial Times
• Australian retail sales in March rose to 1.6% (vs. expected 0.6%)
• Australian Markit Services PMI for April 56.1 (prior 56.6) 
• Australian April Construction PMI 55.9 (vs. prior 56.5)
• New Zealand unemployment rate in Q1 3.2% (vs. 3.2% expected)
• API report showed larger than expected decline of US crude stocks
• Oil is trading higher while natural gas fell 1.0%
• Precious metals remain under pressure. Gold fell slightly to $1865, while silver trades around $25.55
• AUD and CAD are the best performing major currencies while GBP and NZD lag the most
• Cryptocurrencies trade higher - Bitcoin gains 0.7% while Ethereum trades 0.6% higher. 

Bitcoin continues to test major support around $38,000, which coincides with 78.6% Fibonacci retracement of the upward wave launched in July 2021. Source: xStation5