Latest News

MORNING BID AMERICAS-Dow flirts with 40k, China fights homes bust

A take a look at the day ahead in U.S. and international markets from Mike Dolan After a week of around the world stock exchange records, Friday appears set for a breather - with attention switching to the deepening Chinese housing bust and sweeping government strategies to stop the rot there.

Thursday's saw the blue-chip Dow Jones briefly top the 40,000 milestone as the S&P 500, Nasdaq and MCSI all-country index all clocked all-time intraday highs too.

Indications of U.S. disinflation resuming and the larger economy cooling all stoked hopes that Federal Reserve interest rate cuts are indeed coming - with annual business revenue growth and year-to-date stock index gains accelerating into double digits.

As both a reflection of and spur to the brand-new bullishness, the VIX 'fear index' of equity volatility subsided to its least expensive level of the year on Friday. And futures held constant overnight after a modest tick back in the cash market on Thursday.

However as the Sino-U.S. geopolitical rivalry magnified this week with brand-new trade tariffs from Washington and the Russia-China top in Beijing, market attention changed to the health of the world's 2nd most significant economy and data showing speeding up home price deflation there.

Chinese stocks jumped on Friday as the government revealed a series of measures to cross a housing depression that's seen new home costs fall in April for tenth consecutive month and at the fastest rate in practically ten years - with residential or commercial property investment so far in 2024 falling nearly 10% from in 2015.

The most recent rescue strategies permits city governments to buy some unsold homes, unwinds home loan rules and pledges to provide unfinished homes.

With 4.25 billion square feet of new housing for sale in January-March, up 24% year-on-year, experts at Tianfeng Securities approximate it will cost around $1 trillion to buy the entire stock.

Individually, individuals's Bank of China said it would establish a $41.53 billion relending facility for affordable real estate and lower home loan rates and downpayment requirements further.

China's CSI 300 Real Estate index jumped nearly 9% on the statements, with wider CSI300 and Hong Kong's. Hang Seng both up about 1%. The offshore yuan. compromised a little.

The extent to which the home sector issues are sapping. the economy were exposed in a further slowing of retail sales. growth there last month to just 2.3%, the slowest increase given that. December 2022 and far except forecasts.

The restored Chinese export push that unnerves western. governments and is triggering renewed trade tensions saw. industrial production development beat expectations, nevertheless, and. speed up to an annual 6.7% last month.

Back on Wall Street, part of the controlled end to Thursday's. trading was because of a modest backup in Treasury yields after news. of a pickup in U.S. import rate inflation that forms an. important part of the Fed's preferred PCE inflation gauge.

Ten-year Treasury yields hovered simply under. 4.40% on Friday and the dollar was firmer too.

However the wider sweep of U.S. real estate, jobless and market. updates launched in parallel revealed the economy coming off the. boil - with U.S. financial surprise indexes pipes their many. unfavorable in 16 months.

Fed authorities mostly invited the tick lower in consumer. prices this week, but continued to stress perseverance before. cutting rates. Futures markets are still largely priced for a. quarter point cut by September, with a one-in-three opportunity of a. relocation as quickly as July.

In business results, WalMart was a standout and its. stock rose 7% after the retail giant raised its fiscal 2025. sales and earnings projection, banking on relieving inflation to. even more increase demand for fundamentals.

Friday's journal is mainly bare - with Fed speakers. dominating. AI-bellwether Nvidia's outcomes next week. are now in view, while the 'meme stocks' trend of the earlier. part of the week seems to have actually dissipated once again.

In Europe, June interest rate cut hopes remain high however. there was some dampening of relieving expectations after that from. European Reserve bank board member Isabel Schnabel.

The course beyond June is much more unpredictable, she said. Secret diary items that may offer instructions to U.S. markets later on. on Friday:. * United States April leading index. * Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller and San. Francisco Fed President Mary Daly speak

(source: Reuters)