U.S. Stock Futures Slip, Bonds Gain Before Holiday: Markets Wrap

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.3% as of 7:38 a.m. New York time.
• Futures on the S&P 500 Index decreased 0.7%.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.7%.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.1%.
• The euro was little changed at $1.0854.
• The British pound gained 0.3% to $1.2415.
• The Japanese yen weakened 0.1% to 108.91 per dollar.
• The Russian ruble strengthened 1.3% to 73.99 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell four basis points to 0.73%.
• The spread of Italy’s 10-year bonds over Germany’s advanced one basis point to 1.966 percentage points.
• Germany’s 10-year yield dipped four basis points to -0.34%.
• Britain’s 10-year yield decreased five basis points to 0.332%.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 3.6% to $25.99 a barrel.
• Gold strengthened 0.9% to $1,660.42 an ounce.
• Iron ore climbed 0.7% to $81.38 per metric ton.
• Natural gas fell 0.6% to $1.77 per mmbtu.

 

U.S. equity futures turned lower on Thursday while European stocks pared their gains on the last trading day before the Easter holiday. Oil rose after Russia signaled it’s ready to cut output.

American index contracts struggled for momentum before slipping a day after the S&P 500 closed back in bull-market territory. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index trimmed an advance amid reports that Italy and the U.K. may extend lockdowns to combat the coronavirus outbreak, though it stayed higher overall. Most Asian stocks rose, though Japanese shares retreated.

The dollar dipped while Treasuries advanced. European government bonds also climbed as EU finance chiefs once again try to resolve differences over how to defend their economies in a new round of talks. Oil futures jumped and the ruble advanced for a sixth day as the OPEC+ coalition and Group of 20 oil ministers gather in two key video conferences this week to consider a deal to trim production.

 

 

Investors are sorting through a fragmented picture of how and when the $90 trillion global economy can begin to reboot in the wake of the coronavirus.

While the White House’s top health advisers develop criteria to reopen the U.S. in the coming weeks if trends hold steady, the pandemic continues to exact a heavy toll. Italy’s new cases crept up after several days of declines, raising questions about whether plans will be delayed for relaxing the stringent restrictions on public life. The coronavirus may be “reactivating” in people who have been cured of the illness, according to Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It’s all a question of when the economy reopens and how quickly that happens,” said Nancy Davis, chief investment officer of Quadratic Capital Management LLC. “We aren’t out of the woods.”

Elsewhere, the impact of the outbreak continued to surface in corporate results — Switzerland’s largest banks bowed to pressure to delay dividends even as UBS Group AG reported a surprise jump in first-quarter profit.