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Equities turn lower, as fragile yen remains on intervention watch

U.S. and European shares turned lower on Wednesday ahead of more business earnings this week and the yen was mired near 34-year lows, keeping traders careful of intervention from Japan.

An after-hours surge in shares of electric lorry maker Tesla, following its pledge of brand-new designs, and upbeat revenues from some U.S. business at first lifted belief, stimulating a rally in tech stocks in Asia, where the sector increased 3.6% and Europe, where it got 2.5%.

MSCI's gauge of stocks around the world increased 0.25 points, or 0.03%, to 758.40.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 76.51 points, or 0.20%, to 38,427.18. The S&P 500 lost 9.58 points, or 0.19%, at 5,060.97 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 26.80 points, or 0.17%, to 15,669.84.

Europe's broad STOXX 600 index closed 0.5% lower after increasing to its highest in over a week. Monetary stocks were a drag.

This week is returning to market fundamentals and revenues. A minimum of briefly, we are sidestepping geopolitics which have actually been impacting markets in the last two weeks, stated Samy Chaar, primary financial expert at Lombard Odier.

Safe-haven gold lost 0.08% at $2,320.06 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.14% to $2,324.50 an ounce.

Still to come in an earnings-packed week are results from tech giants Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Microsoft.

DATA DIVERGENCE

Buying Managers Index studies on Tuesday revealed total organization activity in the euro zone and in Britain expanded at their fastest speed in nearly a year, while company activity cooled in the U.S.

. That divergence helped the euro nudge above $1.07. in Asia trade, its greatest in more than a week.

For once, US-eurozone divergence in information has come to the. benefit of euro/dollar, said Francesco Pesole, currency. strategist at ING, in a note.

( Though) tough data - inflation and employment above all -. has actually been the genuine drag on the pair so far, so caution is. required when it comes to rallies triggered by activity studies. like PMIs.

U.S. gdp and March individual consumption. expense data due later this week will be essential for the. dollar and for financiers' efforts to gauge the course of U.S. rates.

Traders expect the Federal Reserve to start relieving rates in. September and ending the year with 42 basis points of cuts, down. from previous bets for 150 bps.

Something is fore sure: the Fed is not raising rates. I. think they want to tighten up financial conditions by. communicating a more distance is needed for cuts, however they. can do those cuts at whatever speed is essential, stated Jamie. Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group in Richmond,. Virginia.

INTERVENTION ZONE

The drastic shift in rate expectations has raised Treasury. yields and lifted the dollar in the past few weeks, with. pressure felt particularly in Asia.

In the most recent illustration, Indonesia's central bank. delivered a surprise rate hike on Wednesday, stepping up efforts. to support the rupiah currency.

The Japanese yen weakened 0.28% to 155.25 per dollar. and touched its most affordable because 1990 ahead of the Bank of Japan's. two-day policy meeting that concludes on Friday.

A senior official of Japan's ruling celebration told they. were not yet in active conversation on what yen levels would be. deemed deserving of market intervention.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes. increased 5.4 basis points to 4.652% from 4.598% late on Tuesday.

The 30-year bond yield rose 5.9 basis points. to 4.7817% from 4.723% late on Tuesday.

The 2-year note yield, which usually moves. in action with interest rate expectations, rose 3.2 basis points. to 4.9373%, from 4.905% late on Tuesday.

In products, U.S. crude lost 0.56% to $82.89 a. barrel and Brent was up to $88.1 per barrel, down 0.36% on. the day.

(source: Reuters)