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Shares jump on tech increase; vulnerable yen on intervention watch

World stocks rose on Wednesday led by gains in the tech sector, significantly U.S. megacaps, and the yen was mired near 34year lows, keeping traders wary of intervention from Japan.

An after-hours surge in shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla, following its guarantee of brand-new models, and upbeat earnings from some U.S. companies lifted sentiment, spurring a. rally in tech stocks in Asia, where the sector. increased 3.6% and Europe, where it acquired 2.5%.

MSCI's gauge of stocks around the world. rose 1.22 points, or 0.16%, to 759.37 by 10:43 a.m. ET (1443. GMT).

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average. fell 49.21 points, or 0.13%, to 38,454.48, the S&P 500. gained 5.54 points, or 0.11%, to 5,076.09 and the Nasdaq. Composite gained 79.54 points, or 0.51%, to 15,776.18.

Europe's broad STOXX 600 reversed early gains and. was down 0.28% following soft earnings from drugmaker Roche. and high-end items maker Kering.

Today is getting back to market fundamentals and. earnings. At least momentarily, we are sidestepping geopolitics. which have actually been impacting markets in the last two weeks, said. Samy Chaar, chief financial expert at Lombard Odier.

Safe haven gold edged up 0.21% was still 4% lower. than its Friday high.

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

DATA DIVERGENCE

Buying Managers Index surveys on Tuesday revealed overall. business activity in the euro zone and in Britain expanded at. their fastest rate in almost a year, while service 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 data has pertained to the. advantage of euro/dollar, stated Francesco Pesole, currency. strategist at ING, in a note.

( Though) hard information - inflation and employment above all -. has actually been the real drag on the set so far, so caution is. required when it concerns rallies prompted by activity surveys. like PMIs.

U.S. gdp and March personal usage. expense data due later today will be essential for the. dollar and for financiers' efforts to determine the path of U.S. rates.

Traders anticipate the very first Federal Reserve rate cut in. September, with expectations of 42 basis points of cuts this. year. They had formerly priced in 150 bps of easing for the. whole year.

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

INTERVENTION ZONE

The extreme shift in rate expectations has raised Treasury. yields and lifted the dollar in the previous few weeks, with. pressure felt especially in Asia.

In the latest illustration, Indonesia's reserve bank. provided a surprise rate hike on Wednesday, stepping up efforts. to support the rupiah currency.

The Japanese yen deteriorated 0.15% versus the greenback. at 155.07 per dollar and touched its lowest given that 1990 ahead of. the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting that concludes on. Friday.

A senior authorities of Japan's ruling party told they. were not yet in active discussion on what yen levels would be. considered worthy of market intervention.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes. rose 6 basis indicate 4.658%, from 4.598% late on Tuesday. The. 2-year note yield, which generally moves in action with. rates of interest expectations, increased 3.6 basis points to 4.9414%,. from 4.905%.

In commodities, U.S. unrefined futures lost 0.58% to. $ 82.88 a barrel and Brent was up to $88.08 per barrel,. down 0.38% on the day.

(source: Reuters)