Nasdaq Jumps 1.7% As PCE Growth Slows
Stock markets continued with their recent surge on Friday as the key US PCE data came out south of expectations, tech stocks and the Nasdaq once again led the way closing the day up 1.7%, notching up the biggest quarterly gain since June 2020. The Dow and S&P also had strong finishes closing up 1.3% and 1.4% respectively. The dollar rose despite the data print as some currency traders took profit ahead of the weekend. US treasury yields fell off in late trade with the 2-year now set to post its largest monthly fall since 2008.
Oil Flies Higher as OPEC+ Hits Supply
Oil took off after Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ countries announced supply cuts over the weekend. Brent Futures jumped over 7% as the market opened and US crude added over $5 to take it above the $80/b level. The news was unexpected and has taken the majority of the market by surprise with the output being cut by as much as 1.1 million barrels a day, some market commentators are now calling for Brent to swiftly move back towards $95/b. Traders are expecting more volatility across markets as investors digest the news and the implications of the news. First to suffer on the currency front has been the Japanese Yen – dropping 0.3% against the greenback – as the country imports the majority of its energy and is highly price sensitive to moves in the oil market.
Disjointed Week Ahead for Markets
Investors are walking into an interesting start to what was always going to be a bit of a disjointed week. It is relatively heavy in terms of central bank action and tier 1 data releases as well as the traditionally thin Easter holiday liquidity levels coming into play on Thursday and Friday. Today’s trading sessions are on the quieter side in terms of macroeconomic releases, however, traders are still dealing with the impact of the latest US data as well as news of Oil supply cuts over the weekend. One of the key data releases for the day comes in the European session with the Swiss CPI numbers out – this coming out with the market already sensitive after the recent collapse of Credit Suisse. The US session sees the ISM Manufacturing PMI data released with Fed watchers looking for more signs of slowing growth to help with a lowering of rate hike expectations from the FOMC.
