FYI: Investors were looking ahead to the U.S. interest-rate decision later on Wednesday, with stocks set to open slightly higher after a very quiet morning in Europe and Asia where many markets were closed for the May Day holiday.
U.S. equity futures pointed to opening rises of 0.3% for both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but Apple was trading up nearly 6% in premarket trading following news that the maker of the iPhone plans to return more cash to shareholders.
Treasury yields slid marginally ahead of a Federal Reserve press conference that is expected to confirm a watch-and-wait stance toward inflation.
Stock markets in Japan, China, Korea and across most of mainland Europe were shut, but with Danish and U.K. stocks trading, The Stoxx Europe 600 was flat and the FTSE 100 was down 0.1%.
Yields on 10-year Treasurys, which rise when prices fall, were at 2.496% from 2.501% Tuesday, after President Trump once more took to Twitter to complain that the Fed had “incessantly lifted rates, even though inflation is very low.” The Fed last raised rates four months ago and in January signaled a U-turn on its policy of cutting its balance sheet and pushing through rate rises.
German 10-year bund yields returned to positive territory Tuesday and rose again to 0.012% Wednesday, while gilt yields in the U.K. were flat at 1.158%.
The dollar extended several days of relative weakness following last week’s rally with the WSJ Dollar Index down 0.11%.
In commodities, Brent crude oil rose by 0.1% to $72.13 a barrel, while gold slipped 0.1% to $1.284.30 an ounce.
Regards,
Ted
MarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-futures-point-to-more-records-as-apple-results-cheer-investors-2019-05-01/printWSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-markets-quiet-for-may-day-ahead-of-fed-decision-11556698081Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-30/stock-futures-rise-on-apple-dollar-yields-dip-markets-wrap?srnd=premiumIBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-apple-stock-amd-stock-twilio-stock/CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/01/stock-market-federal-reserve-meeting-outcome-in-focus.htmlU.K.:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-stocks/sainsburys-lloyds-drive-britains-main-share-index-higher-idUKKCN1S73BPEurope:
Closed
Asia: (Limited)
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/australian-stocks-rise-with-most-asian-markets-closed-for-holiday-2019-04-30/printBonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/30/us-bonds-treasury-yields-tick-lower-as-investors-await-economic-data.htmlCurrencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/30/forex-market-china-pmi-data-fed-meeting-in-focus.htmlOil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/01/oil-markets-us-stockpiles-global-markets-in-focus.htmlGold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/01/gold-markets-equities-the-fed-in-focus.htmlCuirrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx
