U.S. Stocks May Regain Ground In Early Trading

[ADVFN]( [WorldDaily Markets Bulletin]( [Daily world financial news]( [Wednesday, 29 April 2020 09:40:11]( [Monitor]( [Quote]( [Charts]( [News]( [Toplists]( [Boards]( Avoid These 7 Financial Advisor Mistakes A financial advisor's guidance is crucial for any healthy retirement plan, but most people make these avoidable mistakes when hiring one. [Click Here to Find Out More..]( --------------------------------------------------------------- US Market Bitcoin [Bitcoin]( DAX [DAX]( Dow Jones [Dow Jones]( Nasdaq [Nasdaq]( The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher open on Wednesday, with stocks likely to move back to the upside following the downturn seen over the course of the previous session. After failing to sustain an initial upward move, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq pulled back firmly into negative territory, but the Dow and the S&P 500 spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. The major averages all finished the day in negative territory, although the Nasdaq underperformed its counterparts. While the Nasdaq plunged 122.43 points or 1.4 percent to 8,607.73, the Dow edged down 32.23 points or 0.1 percent to 24,101.55 and the S&P 500 fell 15.09 points or 0.5 percent to 2,863.39. The initial strength on Wall Street partly reflected continued optimism that the U.S. is seeing "the light at the end of the tunnel" of the coronavirus pandemic. A number of states such as George, South Carolina and Colorado have already stated reopening, while other states like New York have announced plans to begin reopening in the coming weeks. President Donald Trump's administration has also unveiled a plan to ramp up testing, which experts have said is the most important step toward reopening the economy. Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, inspiring some traders to cash in on recent strength in the markets. The initial jump lifted the major averages to their best intraday levels in well over a month, which may have led some traders to believe the recent recovery has been overdone. Notable declines by Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (FB) and Apple (AAPL) weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq. The choppy trading on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at near-zero levels, although the central bank could provide additional guidance regarding how long it plans to keep rates at their current levels. Some economists have also suggested the Fed could take steps toward yield curve control, announcing targeted asset purchases as part of an effort to pin down longer-term yields. On the U.S. economic front, the Conference Board released a report showing consumer confidence deteriorated significantly in the month of April. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index plunged to 86.9 in April after tumbling to a downwardly revised 118.8 in March. Economists had expected the index to plummet to 90.0 from the 120.0 originally reported for the previous month. Biotechnology stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index tumbling by 2.6 percent after reaching a record intraday high in early trading. Significant weakness also emerged among software stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 slump by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index. Healthcare, pharmaceutical and retail stocks also moved to the downside on the day, contributing to the pullback by the broader markets. On the other hand, substantial strength remained visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 4.7 percent spike by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Homebuilder D.R. Horton (DHI) posted a standout gain after reporting fiscal second quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates. Oil service stocks also held on to strong gains, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 4.4 percent. The rally by oil service stocks came despite a decrease by the price of crude oil. Tobacco, chemical and banking stocks also saw notable strength on the day, helping to limit the downside for the markets. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Economic Reports CADUSD [CADUSD]( Oil [Oil]( Gold [Gold]( EURUSD [EURUSD]( At 10 am ET, the National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release its report on pending home sales in the month of March. Pending home sales are expected to plunge by 10 percent in March after surging up by 2.4 percent in February. A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale. The Energy Information Administration is due to release its report on oil inventories in the week ended April 24th at 10:30 am ET. Crude oil inventories are expected to jump by 10.6 million barrels after spiking by 15.0 million barrels in the previous week. At 2 pm ET, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its latest monetary policy decision, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell?s post-meeting press conference to follow at 2:30 pm ET. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Europe European stocks were flat to slightly higher on Wednesday as investors reacted to rising oil prices, a host of corporate earnings and reports about reopening of businesses across Europe and in a few U.S. states. The Federal Reserve is set to finish its two-day meeting later today, with investors looking for guidance on the trajectory of the world's largest economy. The European Central Bank meets Thursday following Fitch's decision to downgrade its rating on Italian debt to BBB-, one notch above junk. The pan European Stoxx 600 was up 0.1 percent at 341.57 after climbing 1.7 percent on Tuesday. The German DAX was rising 0.4 percent, France's CAC 40 index was marginally higher and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up as much as 0.9 percent. Shares in AMS soared 18 percent after the sensor specialist said it expects the impact from the novel coronavirus in the second quarter to be limited. Drugmaker AstraZeneca rose 0.8 percent as it reported strong revenue and profit growth for the first quarter of 2019 and reiterated its 2020 forecast. Standard Chartered Plc shares jumped 3.7 percent. After reporting a 12 percent fall in first-quarter net profit, the bank said it is seeing encouraging signs in China that the recovery could be yet more rapid than that. International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG), the parent company of British Airways, fell over 2 percent after announcing plans to cut nearly 12,000 jobs at the U.K. carrier. BP Plc shares and Royal Dutch Shell both surged over 4 percent as oil prices rebounded on the back of lower-than-expected rise in U.S. stockpiles. Retailer Next Plc dropped 1.4 percent after saying it expects full-year sales to fall by as much as 40 percent in a worst-case scenario. Plane maker Airbus rose over 1 percent. After reporting a consolidated net loss of 481 million euros for the first quarter, the company said the assessment of Covid-19 implications on outlook is in progress. Automaker Daimler climbed 2.4 percent after saying it expects the full-year operating profit of its Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans division to be above the prior-year level. Rival Volkswagen jumped 2.6 percent. The company said it has taken numerous countermeasures to cut costs and remain profitable on a full-year basis. Polymer company Covestro gained about 2 percent after meeting its EBITDA guidance for the first quarter of 2020. Deutsche Bank advanced 2.1 percent. The lender swung to a loss in the first quarter amid a costly restructuring and the coronavirus crisis. In economic releases, Eurozone economic confidence deteriorated sharply amid coronavirus pandemic in April and reached near the lowest levels seen during the Great Recession in March 2009, survey results from the European Commission showed. The economic confidence index fell to 67.0 in April from 94.2 in March. This was the strongest monthly decline since 1985. --------------------------------------------------------------- How To Get An Early Piece Of The Next Big IPO Breakthrough in augmented reality could transform the cosmetic surgery industry. Now accepting Pre-IPO investors, sign up to receive exclusive access. [Click Here to Find Out More..]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Asia USDCAD [USDCAD]( USDEUR [USDEUR]( USDGBP [USDGBP]( USDJPY [USDJPY]( Asian stocks rose broadly on Wednesday, with optimism about the easing of coronavirus-related restrictions and expectations about robust earnings by U.S. tech firms helping underpin sentiment ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement due later in the day. The Japanese market was closed for the Showa Day holiday. Chinese shares rose as investors cheered solid earnings updates from the country's biggest listed banks. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index rose by 12.42 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,822.44 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended up 0.28 percent at 24,643.59. Australian markets advanced as several countries around the world announced a phased reopening of businesses. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rallied 80.30 points, or 1.51 percent, to 5,393.40 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 82.60 points, or 1.53 percent, at 5,463.80. The big four banks jumped 4-6 percent. Energy companies such as Origin Energy, Oil Search, Woodside Petroleum and Santos surged 5-7 percent as oil prices rebounded in Asian trade on hopes that a glut in global crude markets may be easing. Crown Resorts soared almost 11 percent after U.S. private equity firm Blackstone bought a stake in the casino operator. Gold miners Newcrest and Northern Star Resources dropped 1-2 percent after safe-haven gold prices extended losses for a third straight session overnight. Overall consumer prices in Australia rose 0.3 percent sequentially in the first quarter of 2020, a government report showed. That exceeded expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent and was down from 0.7 percent in the three months prior. On a yearly basis, inflation climbed 2.2 percent - again topping forecasts for 2.0 percent and up from 1.8 percent in Q4. Seoul stocks rose for a third straight session after data showed the country's March factory output jumped by the most in 11 years amid virus-related production disruptions in China. The benchmark Kospi ended up 13.47 points, or 0.70 percent, at 1,947.56. Industrial output in South Korea was up a seasonally adjusted 4.6 percent month-on-month in March, Statistics Korea said - following the 3.8 percent decline in February. On a yearly basis, industrial output jumped 7.1 percent after spiking 11.3 percent in the previous month. New Zealand shares fluctuated before finishing sharply lower after the government eased Covid-19 rules, allowing construction sites, restaurants and some other businesses to reopen following a decline in new virus cases. The benchmark NZX-50 index dropped 93.37 points, or 0.87 percent, to 10,666.19. New Zealand had a merchandise trade surplus of NZ$672 million in March, Statistics New Zealand said today - up from NZ$594 million in February. Exports rose an annual 3.8 percent. Singapore's Straits Times index was up 0.2 percent as the number of Covid-19 cases in the country crossed the 15,000 mark. India's Sensex was rallying 1.3 percent amid expectations the government will finalize a second stimulus package this week for industry, the poor and farmers. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Commodities Crude oil futures are jumping $3.07 to $15.41 a barrel after falling $0.44 to $12.34 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is trading at $1,717.80 compared to the previous session?s close of $1,722.20. On Tuesday, gold slipped $1.60. On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 106.67 yen compared to the 106.87 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.0856 compared to yesterday?s $1.0820. --------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this news bulletin or edit your mailing list settings click [here](. Registered Office/Accounts Dept: Suite 27, Essex Technology Centre, The Gable, Fyfield Road, Ongar, CM5 0GA. Customer Support +1 888-992-3836. Company registered in England and Wales: Number 2374988 VAT No. GB 549 2130 49