ASIA:

A Hong Kong court on Friday increased a jail sentence to five years, in line with a China-imposed national security law, for a student who called for independence from China in posts on the Telegram messaging service. He has been in detention since September 2020, after police raided his flat and found a pepper ball gun, meant for firing irritant powder for self-defense, an extendable police baton, two military knives and protective gear.

India on Friday launch an open network for digital commerce (ONDC) as the government tries to end the dominance of U.S. companies Amazon.com and Walmart in the fast-growing e-commerce market, a government document showed. The launch of the platform comes after India’s antitrust body on Thursday raided domestic sellers of Amazon and some of Walmart’s Flipkart following accusations of competition law violations. The companies did not respond to request for comment on the raids. The government’s so-called ONDC platform will allow buyers and sellers to connect and transact with each other online, no matter what other application they use. It will be soft launched on Friday before being expanded, the trade ministry told Reuters.

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

• NIKKEI 225 closed
• Shanghai increased 71.58 points or 2.41% to 3,047.06
• Hang Seng increased 813.22 points or 4.01% to 21,089.39
• ASX 200 increased 78.10 points or 1.06% to 7,435.00
• Kospi increased 27.56 points or 1.03% to 2,695.05
• SENSEX decreased 460.19 points or -0.80% to 57,060.87
• Nifty50 decreased 142.50 points or -0.83% to 17,102.55

The major Asian currency markets had a negative day today:

• AUDUSD decreased 0.0011 or -0.15% to 0.70914
• NZDUSD decreased 0.00249 or -0.38% to 0.64662
• USDJPY decreased 1.067 or -0.82% to 129.745
• USDCNY decreased 0.02026 or -0.30% to 6.64276

Precious Metals:

• Gold increased 14.17 USD/t oz. or 0.75% to 1,908.51
• Silver decreased 0.096 USD/t. oz or -0.41% to 23.038

Some economic news from last night:

South Korea:

Industrial Production (YoY) (Mar) decreased from 6.3% to 3.7%

Industrial Production (MoM) (Mar) increased from 0.4% to 1.3%

Retail Sales (MoM) decreased from 0.1% to -0.5%

Service Sector Output (MoM) (Mar) increased from -0.4% to 1.5%

Australia:

Housing Credit (Mar) remain the same at 0.6%

PPI (YoY) (Q1) increased from 3.7% to 4.9%

PPI (QoQ) (Q1) increased from 1.3% to 1.6%

Private Sector Credit (MoM) (Mar) decreased from 0.6% to 0.4%

Singapore:

Bank Lending increased from 829.5B to 829.9B

Some economic news from today

Hong Kong:

M3 Money Supply (Mar) increased from -1.1% to 1.0%

India:

FX Reserves, USD decreased from 603.69B to 600.42B

Infrastructure Output (YoY) (Mar) decreased from 6.0% to 4.3%

Singapore:

Business Expectations (Q1) remain the same at 8.00

EUROPE/EMEA:

France’s economic growth unexpectedly flatlined in the first quarter as consumer spending dropped in the face of record high inflation, official data showed on Friday, putting pressure on President Emmanuel Macron ahead of legislative elections. The INSEE official statistics agency said preliminary data showed no change in gross domestic product for January-March. That signaled a sharp slowdown from the final three months of 2021, when the euro zone’s second-biggest economy expanded 0.8%, which was revised up from 0.7% previously. Household spending, the traditional driver of French growth, fell 1.3% in the quarter as consumer confidence waned amid concerns over surging energy prices and the war in Ukraine, eclipsing any boost from an easing of COVID restrictions. Inflation has soared from record to record in recent months, rising unexpectedly in April to touch a new high of 5.4%.

The major Europe stock markets had a green day:

• CAC 40 increased 25.63 points or 0.39% to 6,533.77
• FTSE 100 increased 35.36 points or 0.47% to 7,544.55
• DAX 30 increased 118.04 points or 0.84% to 14,097.88

The major Europe currency markets had a green day today:

• EURUSD increased 0.00541 or 0.52% to 1.05543
• GBPUSD increased 0.01209 or 0.97% to 1.25815
• USDCHF increased 0.00034 or 0.03% to 0.97217

Some economic news from Europe today:

France:

French Consumer Spending (MoM) (Mar) decreased from 0.9% to -1.3%

French GDP (YoY) decreased from 5.5% to 5.3%

French GDP (QoQ) (Q1) decreased from 0.8% to 0.0%

French CPI (YoY) increased from 4.5% to 4.8%

French CPI (MoM) decreased from 1.4% to 0.4%

French HICP (YoY) increased from 5.1% to 5.4%

French HICP (MoM) decreased from 1.6% to 0.5%

French PPI (MoM) (Mar) increased from 0.9% to 4.3%

UK:

Nationwide HPI (YoY) (Apr) decreased from 14.3% to 12.1%

Nationwide HPI (MoM) (Apr) decreased from 1.1% to 0.3%

Germany:

German Import Price Index (MoM) (Mar) increased from 1.3% to 5.7%

German Import Price Index (YoY) (Mar) increased from 26.3% to 31.2%

German GDP (QoQ) (Q1) increased from -0.3% to 0.2%

German GDP (YoY) (Q1) increased from 1.8% to 4.0%

Norway:

Credit Indicator (YoY) (Mar) remain the same at 5.0%

Core Retail Sales (MoM) (Mar) increased from -1.1% to 3.3%

Central Bank Currency Purchase (May) remain the same at 2,000.0M

Unemployment Change (Apr) decreased from 70.11K to 67.20K

Unemployment Rate n.s.a. (Apr) decreased from 2.00% to 1.90%

Swiss:

KOF Leading Indicators (Apr) increased from 99.2 to 101.7

Retail Sales (YoY) (Mar) decreased from 12.5% to -6.6%

Spain:

Spanish Current account (Feb) increased from -2.60B to 0.25B

Spanish GDP (YoY) (Q1) increased from 5.5% to 6.4%

Spanish GDP (QoQ) (Q1) decreased from 2.2% to 0.3%

Spanish Retail Sales (YoY) (Mar) decreased from 0.9% to -4.2%

Italy:

Italian GDP (QoQ) (Q1) decreased from 0.6% to -0.2%

Italian GDP (YoY) (Q1) decreased from 6.2% to 5.8%

Italian CPI (YoY) (Apr) decreased from 6.5% to 6.2%

Italian CPI (MoM) (Apr) decreased from 1.0% to 0.2%

Italian HICP (YoY) (Apr) decreased from 6.8% to 6.6%

Italian HICP (MoM) (Apr) decreased from 2.4% to 0.6%

Italian PPI (MoM) (Mar) increased from 0.4% to 4.0%

Italian PPI (YoY) (Mar) increased from 32.7% to 36.9%

Euro Zone：

M3 Money Supply (YoY) (Mar) remain the same at 6.3%

Loans to Non Financial Corporations (Mar) decreased from 4.4% to 4.2%

Private Sector Loans (YoY) increased from 4.4% to 4.5%

Core CPI (MoM) decreased from 1.2% to 1.1%

Core CPI (YoY) increased from 2.9% to 3.5%

CPI (YoY) (Apr) increased from 7.4% to 7.5%

CPI (MoM) decreased from 2.4% to 0.6%

CPI, n.s.a (Apr) increased from 114.46 to 115.17

GDP (QoQ) decreased from 0.3% to 0.2%

GDP (YoY) increased from 4.7% to 5.0%

HICP ex Energy & Food (YoY) (Apr) increased from 3.2% to 3.9%

HICP ex Energy and Food (MoM) increased from 1.1% to 1.2%

US/AMERICAS:

The US job market continues to tighten after last week’s initial jobless claims dropped by 5,000 to 180,000. The four-week moving average has increased to 179,750, often providing a better overall view of the labor force. Continuing claims, with data running a week behind, fell to 1,408,000, marking a 1,000 decrease from the week prior. This also marks the lowest level of insured unemployment since February 1970 when continuing claims reached 1,397,000. The four-week average for continuing claims is now 1,455,000.

The Canadian economy grew 1.1% in February, the fastest upward movement in a year, as the nation moves away from COVID restrictions that dampened business. Statistics Canada stated that preliminary data for March suggests another 0.5% of growth. As a result of easing restrictions, the food service sector jumped 15.1% in February, while the entertainment sector saw an 8.4% increase. Rail transportation rose 9.1%, while air travel advanced 7.7%. The Bank of Canada foresees the economy expanding by 5.6% in Q1 alone, which will likely have an impact on the next central bank meeting in June.

US Market Closings:

• Dow declined 939.18 points or -2.77% to 32,977.21
• S&P 500 declined 155.57 points or -3.63% to 4,131.93
• Nasdaq declined 536.89 points or -4.17% to 12,334.64
• Russell 2000 declined 53.84 points or 2.81% to 1,864.1

Canada Market Closings:

• TSX Composite declined 359.06 points or -1.7% to 20,762
• TSX 60 declined 22.44 points or -1.76% to 1,255.54

Brazil Market Closing:

• Bovespa declined 2,042.81 points or -1.86% to 107,876.16

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a green day today:

• Crude Oil increased 1.34 USD/BBL or 1.27% to 106.700
• Brent increased 1.91 USD/BBL or 1.78% to 109.50
• Natural gas increased 0.371 USD/MMBtu or 5.39% to 7.2590
• Gasoline increased 0.0092 USD/GAL or 0.26% to 3.5126
• Heating oil increased 0.473 USD/GAL or 9.21% to 5.6084

The above data was collected around 13:11 EST on Friday

• Top commodity gainers: Heating Oil (9.21%) and Natural Gas (5.39%), Orange Juice (5.26%), Palladium (3.76%)
• Top commodity losers: Live Cattle(-2.22%), Lean Hogs (-3.05%), Zinc (-1.75%) and Wheat (-1.47%)

The above data was collected around 13:30 EST on Friday

BONDS:

Japan 0.2170%(-2.7bp), US 2’s 2.71% (+0.077%), US 10’s 2.8966% (+6.45bps); US 30’s 2.95% (+0.049%), Bunds 0.935% (+4bp), France 1.452% (+5bp), Italy 2.772% (+5.8bp), Turkey 19.90% (-2bp), Greece 3.354% (+19.7bp), Portugal 2.025% (+6.7bp); Spain 2.00% (+9bp) and UK Gilts 1.9100% (+3.5bp).