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U.S. stocks closed lower on Wednesday as crude prices tumbled and investors weighed cautious U.S. Federal Reserve commentary and ongoing geopolitical strife against mixed quarterly earnings. Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar eased back from multi-month highs, while gold backed down from its all-time high.   All three major U.S. stock indexes ended the session in the red, with the tech shares dragging the Nasdaq down 1.15%. “April has been a little disappointing for investors, but remember stocks have gained the past five months, some kind of pause or break would be perfectly normal, and we very well could be seeing that right now,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha, Nebraska. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell declined to provide guidance on Tuesday regarding the timing and extent of expected interest rate cuts, but said policy needs to be restrictive for longer, dimming hopes for rate cuts this year. “The realization that Powell is pushing back on when the interest rate cuts might start has added to the overall confusion, solidifying the assumption that…

By Stella Qiu SYDNEY (Reuters) –Asian shares steadied from a recent sell-off on Wednesday although investors remain wary after the world’s most powerful central banker had a change of heart on U.S. rate cuts this year, pushing Treasury yields to new five-month highs. Europe is set for a subdued open, with EUROSTOXX 50 futures flat on the day. U.S. stock futures slipped 0.1% after Wall Street finished the day lower. The dollar’s surprising resilience this year is causing discomfort in Asia’s currency markets. The beleaguered yen is plumbing fresh 34-year lows on an almost daily basis, the Chinese yuan is pinned near five-month troughs and Vietnam’s dong is at record lows. The New Zealand dollar gained 0.4% to $0.5902 after first-quarter inflation data showed domestically driven price pressures were surprisingly strong, adding to signs that the last mile to get inflation back to target could be bumpy. On Wednesday, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1%, after plunging more than 4% in the past three sessions. Japan’s Nikkei, however, dropped 0.8% to the lowest in two months….

The exchange rate of the yen against the U.S. dollar in the Tokyo foreign exchange market fell to more than 153.8 yen per U.S. dollar on the 15th, a record low in nearly 34 years. Kyodo News reported that interest rate differentials between Japan and the United States prompted investors to sell Japanese yen and buy U.S. dollars. In addition, the latest developments in the situation in the Middle East have also enhanced the appeal of the U.S. dollar as a “safe haven asset.” The consular building of the Iranian Embassy in Syria was attacked by a missile on April 1, killing at least 13 people. Iran and Syria said the attack was carried out by Israel. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement in the early morning of the 14th, announcing that it had launched dozens of missiles and drones at Israeli targets. An Israeli military spokesman said that more than 300 drones and missiles were fired at Israel, and “99%” of them were intercepted. As of 3 pm on the 15th, the Japanese yen exchange rate was…

In March, U.S. stocks continued to perform strongly. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continued to be favored by investors, with large capital inflows, while technology ETFs experienced net outflows. Data show that in March, global investors invested US$126.5 billion in ETF products in the US market. This data is second only to the last two months of 2023 and the third highest monthly inflow since 2021. In this round of buying boom, stock ETFs took over US$96.6 billion, showing that investors still have a relatively positive attitude towards US stocks. In terms of themes, industrial stock ETFs are the most popular, with net inflows of US$1.4 billion. This is the strongest performance of industrial themed stock ETFs since July 2023; raw materials and energy industry ETFs have a net inflow of US$1.3 billion and US$600 million respectively. Net inflows followed closely, and these are industries that are highly cyclical and highly dependent on economic performance. The capital movement in March sent an important signal. Technology ETFs experienced a net outflow of US$600 million, which was the first net outflow since June last…

Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend represents the possibility of a wider conflict in the Middle East and has made global markets more worried about uncontrollable risks. Capital Economics said that heightened tensions in the Middle East after Iran attacked Israel may give the Federal Reserve more reason to slow down the pace of raising interest rates, as soaring oil prices will disrupt the Fed’s battle with central banks. Neil Shearing, chief economist at Capital Economics, said in a report on Sunday that the main risk facing the world is whether Iran and Israel will escalate their conflict into a broader regional conflict, and how the energy market will react. He said that rising oil prices will make inflation targets in advanced economies more complex, but only when energy prices become a key driver of core inflation rates will they likely have a substantial impact on central bank decision-making. According to the White House, it is working hard to prevent the situation from expanding further. Biden is said to have communicated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the…

Driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) craze, technology stocks seem to have attracted all the attention of U.S. stock investors, but some analysts believe that investors should focus on a less dazzling industry. Driven by various bullish factors, The industry is ripe for strong gains. Energy stocks deserve more attention as the sector starts the year off with an impressive performance, according to top U.S. economist David Rosenberg, president of Rosenberg Research profound. The S&P 500 Energy index has returned 16.3% so far this year, and investors haven’t noticed yet. “This is an overlooked segment of the market because investors have very negative positions (in the sector) (SPDR Energy ETF outflows of $2.7 billion over the past year),” he said. Overall, there are three main reasons why energy stocks are expected to rise further this year, with some analysts predicting the sector will rise as much as 20% from current levels. Strong fundamentals Even as technology stocks move higher on strong earnings, LPL Financial noted in a report that the energy sector posted more March earnings revisions than all S&P…

“The U.S. dollar is our currency, but it’s your trouble” – As the U.S. dollar has been rising against the backdrop of recent declines in expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut, this famous quote from former U.S. Treasury Secretary Connally more than half a century ago seems to be coming back again. It has become a major problem for many policymakers in emerging markets… Many investors in the foreign exchange market have recently been paying attention to whether the Japanese government will intervene to prevent the yen, which has already fallen below the 153 mark, from weakening further. But in fact, in emerging markets, many economies face exchange rate pressures no less than Japan. Some locals said the foreign exchange market has become a key battleground, as the dollar’s recent surge has put tremendous pressure on an increasing number of emerging economies to intervene. Market data shows that as investors continue to buy gold and the US dollar, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index weakened for the third consecutive day on Friday, approaching the low of the year. Almost…