5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day: Americas

Good morning. US stocks are calmer after a slide to February lows and the Fed remains in no rush to cut rates. Here’s what’s moving markets. [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Good morning. US stocks are calmer after a slide to February lows and the Fed remains in no rush to cut rates. Here’s what’s moving markets. — [Sam Unsted]( Want to receive this newsletter in Spanish? [Sign up to get the Five Things: Spanish Edition newsletter](. Futures bounce [US stock futures are eking out gains]( following a slump for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 in the prior session, with both indexes closing at the lowest levels since February. Treasuries are edging higher too and the dollar has dipped. A gauge of global chip stocks and AI poster child Nvidia [fell into a technical correction]( amid the recent selloff. And Evercore ISI’s Julian Emanuel thinks [this is only the start](, with the downdraft in stocks only starting and set to continue through the rest of 2024. Chip outlook The mood in the semiconductor industry may be helped by the results from Taiwan’s TSMC, the main chipmaker for Nvidia and Apple. Its [sales guidance was better than expected]( and it stuck by plans to spend up to $32 billion over the course of this year, shoring up expectations for a sustained increase in AI demand. Also on the chip sector front, Micron Technology shares are up in premarket trading with the company set to get [$6.1 billion in grants]( for domestic factory projects. No rush Loretta Mester was the latest Federal Reserve official to reiterate that interest rates can be held steady and [there is no need to rush to cuts](. Michelle Bowman added that progress on inflation may have stalled and questioned how much tighter monetary policy is restraining the economy. Some are pointing to Fed Chair Jerome Powell prematurely signaling cuts were ahead [as a reason for the persistence of US inflation](. And amid talk of potential divergence in policy easing between the Fed and other central banks, the ECB has said [there is a limit to this](. Dollar defenses The significant shift in wagers by traders on Fed rate cuts has bolstered the dollar and rippled through currency markets globally. In Asia, officials are going on the offense and attempting a united front in their desire for [more currency stability](. A G-7 statement also contained a line [reaffirming currency commitments](, providing some leeway for countries to defend their currencies in the face of the strong greenback. Traders are, however, [piling into a contrarian bet]( that the Fed’s easing will be more aggressive than is currently implied. Coming Up… A further cavalcade of Fed speakers are on the schedule for Thursday to scour for more on the likely path of interest rates. Michelle Bowman, John Williams, Raphael Bostic and Susan Collins are all on the slate. Private-equity giant Blackstone is reporting results and then eyes will turn to numbers due from Netflix after the close, with expectations high for another quarter of strong subscriber growth from the streaming company. What We’ve Been Reading This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours. - [Elon Musk apologizes]( for “incorrectly low” Tesla severance packages. - Google [suspends workers]( protesting a contract with Israel’s government. - A succession problem in an [oil-rich African dictatorship](. - Private-equity dealmakers told to put [more of their own assets]( on the line. - Binance secures a [full crypto license]( for Dubai. And finally, here's what Joe’s interested in this morning At any given moment, there are a handful of topics and questions that dominate conversations about the economy and financial markets. Things that everyone brings up, that will rattle around in your head. In that spirit, here is a list of topics that to me, constitute the zeitgeist right now. Let me know what you think is missing. They're in no particular order: - Geopolitical tensions with China - Booming Chinese manufacturing, in EVs, batteries, cars, semiconductors. Are they going to swallow these industries whole? - EVs in general. Will they really take off as expected? - Is there an AI bubble, and could it burst? - Who will make money on AI besides Nvidia? Can anyone compete with Nvidia? - The grid and AI datacenter demand - Nearshoring to Mexico - War in the middle east, and the risks to oil prices. - Inflation has been hot. Will there really be any cuts this year? Could there be hikes? - Could higher rates, perversely, be driving inflation higher? (Sneakily, this seems to be gaining converts) - Exploding US deficits - The surging US dollar - Surging gold - Fiscal dominance - The election - US growth crushing G-7 peers - Miami (still) - Will the gleaming megacities of the future in the Middle East get built? - Sluggish European growth - The war in Ukraine and European defense spending - American defense spending. Do we need to spend more? Do we need to spend more on ships specifically? - The high cost of home and auto insurance - Urban doom loops (still) - Crypto (kind of) - Is sports gambling creating a generational crisis among young American men? Follow Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on X [@TheStalwart]( [Bloomberg Markets Wrap: The latest on what's moving global markets. Tap to read.]( Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. 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