Morning wrap (30.03.2023)

• US indices finished yesterday's trading higher with all major Wall Street indices adding 1% or more. S&P 500 gained 1.42%, Dow Jones moved 1.00% higher and Nasdaq jumped 1.79%. Russell 2000 gained 1.08%

• Nasdaq gained over 20% off December low and has entered a technical bull market.

• Indices from Asia-Pacific trade mostly higher. S&P/ASX 200 gained 1%, Kospi added 0.6%, Nift 50 moved 0.8% higher while Nikkei dropped 0.6%

• Indices from China traded 0.2-0.5% higher

• DAX futures point to a higher opening of the European cash session today

• Fed Chair Powell has reportedly told Republican Representatives that Fed expects 1 more rate hike in 2023

• ECB Schnabel said that banking troubles may have a disinflationary effect. On the other hand, she warned that labour costs indicate possibility of second round inflationary effects

• Fitch noted that there were 14 sovereign default events since 2020, compared to 19 sovereign default events in whole 2000-2019 period

• Chinese premier Li Qiang said that his country will strengthen macro policy adjustments and act to boost consumption and investments

• UK car production increased 13.1% YoY in February as supply chain pressures eased. This was the first monthly increase in output in three months. 81% of all cars produced in UK were exported, with EU being main destination

• New Zealand's building permits slumped 9% MoM in February. On annual basis drop reached 29.2% YoY

• Major cryptocurrencies trade mixed - Bitcoin gains 1.2%, Ethereum adds 0.1%, Dogecoin drops 0.7% and Ripple trades 3.6% lower

• Energy commodities trade mixed - oil gains around 0.3% while US natural gas prices drop 1.7%

• Precious metals trade mostly higher - silver adds 0.7%, platinum trades 0.8% higher and palladium gains 0.6%. Gold trades flat

• AUD and JPY are the best performing major currencies while USD and EUR lag the most

Nasdaq-100 (US100) trades around 20% above the December 2022 low and therefore has entered a bull market, at least from a technical point of view. However, for any larger upward move to be delivered, a break above a psychological, mid-term resistance zone in the 13,000 pts area would be required. Source: xStation5