ASIA:

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday that he was committed to opening up and reforming the world’s second-largest economy, seeking to win over foreign investors even as trade and geopolitical tensions with the West loom large. Li, who spoke alongside the prime ministers of Malaysia, Singapore and Spain, earlier this week told a group of foreign executives, including Apple Inc’s Tim Cook, at a summit in Beijing that China was “unswervingly” committed to opening up. Those COVID curbs were abruptly dropped in December, and Li said on Thursday there were signs a recovery was starting to take hold.

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

• NIKKEI 225 decreased 100.85 points or -0.36% to 27,782.93
• Shanghai increased 21.19 points or 0.65% to 3,261.25
• Hang Seng increased 116.73 points or 0.58% to 20,309.13
• ASX 200 increased 72.00 points or 1.02% to 7,122.30
• Kospi increased 9.24 points or 0.38% to 2,453.16
• SENSEX closed
• Nifty50 closed

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD increased 0.00280 or 0.42% to 0.67112
• NZDUSD increased 0.00420 or 0.67% to 0.62648
• USDJPY decreased 0.215 or -0.16% to 132.625
• USDCNY decreased 0.02030 or -0.29% to 6.87437

Precious Metals:

• Gold increased 17.61 USD/t oz. or 0.90% to 1,981.65
• Silver increased 0.575 USD/t. oz or 2.46% to 23.925

Some economic news from last night:

New Zealand:

Building Consents (MoM) (Feb) decreased from -5.2% to -9.0%

ANZ Business Confidence (Mar) decreased from -43.3 to -43.4

EUROPE/EMEA:

European Central Bank interest rates will likely have to rise further to contain inflation, policymakers said on Wednesday, but at least one outspoken conservative floated the idea of a slowdown in the pace of increases. The ECB has raised rates by a combined 350 basis points since July but offered no guidance for its next meeting on May 4, arguing that recent financial market tension could upend any plan. Slovak central bank chief Peter Kazimir, a proponent of rapid rate increases, meanwhile made the case for slower rises following three straight 50-basis point hikes.

The major Europe stock markets had a green day:

• CAC 40 increased 76.38 points or 1.06% to 7,263.37
• FTSE 100 increased 56.16 points or 0.74% to 7,620.43
• DAX 30 increased 193.62 points or 1.26% to 15,522.40

The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:

• EURUSD increased 0.00614 or 0.57% to 1.09044
• GBPUSD increased 0.00775 or 0.63% to 1.23885
• USDCHF decreased 0.00440 or -0.48% to 0.91403

Some economic news from Europe today:

Swiss:

KOF Leading Indicators (Mar) decreased from 98.9 to 98.2

Spain：

Spanish CPI (YoY) (Mar) decreased from 6.0% to 3.3%

Spanish HICP (YoY) (Mar) decreased from 6.0% to 3.1%

Germany:

German CPI (MoM) (Mar) remain the same at 0.8%

German CPI (YoY) (Mar) decreased from 8.7% to 7.4%

US/AMERICAS:

The labor market is slowly easing in the US, as the weekly report from the Labor Department indicated. Jobless claims for the week of March 25 rose by 7,000 from the week prior to 198,000. Continuing claims, collected from the week prior, rose by 4,000 to 1.689 million. The four-week moving average of weekly claims, which provides a better overall picture of the labor market, rose to 198,250. The Federal Reserve anticipates unemployment rising to 4.5% this year, which would lead to 540,000 lost jobs. The current unemployment rate sits a 3.6%.

US Market Closings:

• Dow advanced 141.43 points or 0.43% to 32,859.03
• S&P 500 advanced 23.02 points or 0.57% to 4,050.83
• Nasdaq advanced 87.24 points or 0.73% to 12,013.47
• Russell 2000 declined 3.22 points or -0.18% to 1,768.38

Canada Market Closings:

• TSX Composite advanced 103.34 points or 0.52% to 19,940.99
• TSX 60 advanced 5.26 points or 0.44% to 1,197.34

Brazil Market Closing:

• Bovespa advanced 1,920.93 points or 1.89% to 103,713.45

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a mixed day today:

• Crude Oil increased 1.222 USD/BBL or 1.67% to 74.192
• Brent increased 0.934 USD/BBL or 1.19% to 79.214
• Natural gas decreased 0.0734 USD/MMBtu or -3.36% to 2.1106
• Gasoline decreased 0.0115 USD/GAL or -0.43% to 2.6566
• Heating oil decreased 0.0297 USD/GAL or -1.12% to 2.6284

The above data was collected around 16:16 EST on Thursday

• Top commodity gainers: Platinum (1.94%), Silver (2.46%), Palm Oil (2.19%) and Sugar (3.34%)
• Top commodity losers: Rapeseed (-2.66%), Butter (-2.38%), Natural Gas (-3.36%) and Wheat (-1.77%)

The above data was collected around 16:22 EST Thursday.

BONDS:

Japan 0.321% (+2.1bp), US 2’s 4.11% (+0.031%), US 10’s 3.5488% (-1.72bps); US 30’s 3.73% (-0.044%), Bunds 2.347% (+4.2bp), France 2.89% (+7.1bp), Italy 4.235% (+9.4bp), Turkey 10.31% (-30bp), Greece 4.317% (+7.9bp), Portugal 3.240% (+5.7bp); Spain 3.387% (+5.1bp) and UK Gilts 3.515% (+4.5bp).

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