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As of press time, the Dow futures, dominated by blue-chip stocks, rose 0.24%; the S&P 500 futures rose 0.25%; the Nasdaq 100 futures, dominated by technology stocks, rose 0.29%. Popular Chinese concept stocks rose before the market opened. European stock markets rose. As of press time, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.08%; France’s CAC40 index rose 0.39%; Britain’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.14%. In terms of commodity foreign exchange, as of press time, Brent crude oil fell 1.10% to US$86.33 per barrel. European Automobile Manufacturers Association: EU car sales hit biggest decline in 16 months in March The European Automobile Manufacturers Association said that EU car sales suffered the largest decline in 16 months in March, and Tesla‘s new car registrations in the EU fell by 30% in March. Registrations of pure electric vehicles in the EU fell by 11% to 134,400 in March; the EU’s pure electric vehicle market share fell to 13% from 14% in the same period last year. Swiss gold exports fell 6.9% month-on-month in March Swiss gold exports fell 6.9% month-on-month in March. TSMC’s Q1 net…

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….

HONG KONG (Reuters) –Morgan Stanley is cutting at least 50 investment banking jobs in Asia Pacific, three sources said, becoming the latest among global banks to scale back operations in the region mainly due to a slump in China markets. The layoffs affect around 13% of the Wall Street bank’s Asia investment banking workforce of 400 in the region, according to one of the sources. Bankers based in Hong Kong and mainland China are going to be affected the most, they said. All of the sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media. A Morgan Stanley spokesperson declined to comment. Bloomberg first reported the job cuts on Wednesday. The cuts are one the largest to its China-focused investment banking team and follow similar measures by other banks also stung by decline in deal making activities in China amid a slowing economy. In January, Bank of America laid off around 20 bankers in the region, following a flurry of investment bank downsizing by UBS, Citigroup and other boutique firms. Morgan Stanley on Tuesday reported a…

JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists say don’t expect an upbeat corporate earnings season to drive stocks higher because much of the optimism has already been priced in after this year’s record gains. A research team led by Mislav Matejka wrote in a report that profit expectations for the first quarter have been lowered during the reporting period, which lowers the threshold for U.S. companies to exceed expectations. Strategists said that after excluding technology giants, S&P 500 companies’ profits are expected to decline across the board. At the same time, investor positions look “very stretched,” Matejka said, with major stock indexes hitting record highs on optimism about economic growth and interest rate cuts. He said: “The stock market has performed well post-earnings, suggesting investors are more optimistic than the pessimistic earnings forecasts conveyed by sell-side analysts. We need to see significant earnings acceleration to justify current stock valuations “It’s reasonable and we’re concerned that this may not happen.” Matejka said that so far, half of U.S. companies have performed below market expectations on the day of earnings reports. Despite a 10%…

U.S. stock futures climbed ahead of the opening bell on Monday as global markets calmed and traders speculated that diplomatic efforts would help prevent an escalation in the conflict between Iran and Israel. The dollar and U.S. Treasuries fell, while gold remained strong near $2,350. As of press time, Dow futures were up 0.5%, S&P 500 futures were up 0.6%, and Nasdaq futures were up 0.6%. The German DAX index rose 1.1%, the British FTSE 100 index fell 0.3%, the French CAC 40 index rose 1.0%, and the European Stoxx 50 index rose 1.1%. U.S. Treasuries fell along with the dollar. U.S. WTI crude oil fell below $85 a barrel. Gold prices are hovering at $2,350. Investor nerves remained high over the prospect of Israeli retaliation against Iran, but investors took some comfort when Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the issue “can be considered closed.” The United States and other countries have also called on all parties to exercise restraint and strive to avoid the outbreak of a full-scale regional war. According to officials familiar with the development,…

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…

“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…

As the first-quarter earnings season of the U.S. stock market slowly opened last week, JPMorgan Chase , which has always been bearish on the prospects of U.S. stocksAnother pessimistic warning. JP Morgan strategists are not optimistic about the outlook for corporate earnings this earnings season, believing that except for a few technology giants, most U.S. stock companies will see an overall decline in earnings. They also believe that even if U.S. stock companies perform well in earnings, it will be difficult to push U.S. stocks higher because most of the optimism has been digested in advance. Xiaomo Mo’s pessimistic outlook on Q1 earnings season The team of Mislav Matejka, head of global equity strategists at JPMorgan Chase, wrote in a report that they have lowered their profit expectations for the first quarter of U.S. stock companies. Strategists said first-quarter earnings for most companies in the S&P 500 are expected to decline across the board after excluding several technology giants. Matejka also noted that investor positioning looks “very tight” as the S&P 500 index has risen to a record high. He…