Daily Summary: Wall Street on edge as debt-ceiling impasse increase uncertainty

The last day of the week did not bring significant changes in market sentiment, with the main indices in the US struggling for direction. Initially, the US500 Index was gaining, but after the debt-ceiling impasse, the index turned back to losses and is currently declining by 0.22% to 4,190 points

Republican negotiators abruptly ended the discussions on raising the debt ceiling on Friday, leaving the two sides in a deadlock as they approached a crucial weekend. Rep. Garret Graves, leading the negotiations on behalf of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, stated that it was necessary to pause the negotiations as they were unproductive and unreasonable. The timeframe for resuming the talks remains uncertain

Failure to raise the debt limit and delays in government payments could lead to a significant drop in stocks, according to UBS strategists, who warned of a potential 20% decline in the S&P 500 if the US formally defaults and delays payments.

The SPDR S&P Regional Banking exchange-traded fund, valued at $3.2 billion, experienced a decline of around 2% following a news report suggesting that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen mentioned the need for more mergers among large lenders

FED Chairman Jerome Powell stated that progress is being made in cooling inflation, but further evidence is required to conclude the current tightening cycle. The FED's assessment will be an ongoing process, conducted in each meeting. Given the progress made thus far, the FED can now analyze the data and evolving outlook to make cautious evaluations.

Canadian retail sales data for March was released today at 1:30 pm BST. Report was expected to show the second month of declines in a row with a drop in sales being expected to be deeper than in February. Actual report came in mixed - headline retail sales dropped more or less in-line with expectations and deeper than in February. However, core retail sales (ex-autos) saw a smaller drop than expected and than in February.

Friday's trading session on the European markets brings a continuation of the euphoria among investors. The German DAX (DE30) is trading up more than 0.5% today and has rocketed to historic highs! Optimism over a possible agreement on the US debt limit has pushed share prices up across the European market and prices did not fell as much as US indices after the debt-ceiling agreement failure. 

Investors received German PPI data for April this morning, which showed a smaller year-on-year decline than expected - from 6.7 to 4.1% y/y, while the market was expecting 4.0% y/y.