- Wall Street indices traded lower today, with S&P 500 dropping 0.9%, Dow Jones trading 1.2% lower, Nasdaq declining 1.1% and small-cap Russell 2000 plunging over 2.5%
- European stock market indices traded lower today - German DAX dropped 1.1%, UK FTSE 100 moved 0.2% lower, French CAC40 declined 0.9% and Italian FTSE MIB slumped 1.2%. Dutch AEX and Polish WIG20 finished flat and were outperformers among regional indices
- Gold climbed to fresh record highs above $2,270 per ounce earlier today, driven by safe haven flows triggered by an increase in Middle East tensions
- Energy commodities traded higher today - oil gains 1.2% while US natural gas prices climb 1.4%
- Cryptocurrencies were pulling back today, with Bitcoin dropping 6% to around $65,000
- AUD and EUR are the best performing major currencies, while CHF and CAD lag the most
- US President Biden and Chinese President Xi held a phone call today. Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying that US-China relations show signs of stabilization, but Taiwan independence remains a red line for Beijing and Washington should not pursue it
- Fed Mester said that while she still expects Fed to cut rates this year, it does not expect rate cut to be delivered at the next meeting. Mester said she now sees long-term Fed funds rate at 3%, up from 2.5% earlier
- Fed Daly said that there is no urgency to adjust rates and Fed needs to see how long to leave rates at current levels. Daly said that 3 rate cuts this year is a reasonable baseline
- RBA minutes showed there was no discussion on raising rates at the latest meeting and that the Board sees the economic outlook as uncertain but with risks seeming to be broadly balanced
- US JOLTS report showed job openings at 8756k in February, down from 8863k in January (exp. 8740k)
- US factory orders increased 1.4% MoM in February (exp. 1.0% MoM), while core factory orders were 1.1% MoM higher (exp. 0.5% MoM)
- German CPI inflation slowed from 2.5% to 2.2% YoY in March (exp. 2.2% YoY)
- Final German manufacturing PMI index for March came in at 41.9, up from 41.6 in first release
- Final French manufacturing PMI index for March came in at 46.2, up from 45.8 in first release
- Final euro area manufacturing PMI index for March came in at 46.1, up from 45.7 in first release
- Final UK manufacturing PMI index for March came in at 50.3, up from 49.9 in first release
- Swiss retail sales declined 0.2% YoY in February (exp. +0.4% YoY)
- Final Australian manufacturing PMI index for March came in at 47.3, up from 46.8 in first release
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