MORNING BRIEFING - USA/Asia

DJ MORNING BRIEFING - USA/Asia

The morning market overview, compiled by Dow Jones Newswires:

HOLIDAY NOTICE

TUESDAY: In Japan, stock exchanges remain closed due to the Showa holiday.

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The US administration wants to streamline talks with trading partners on President Donald Trump's so-called retaliatory tariffs. According to people familiar with the matter, US officials plan to hold staggered negotiations using a new model that establishes common terms for many of the talks. A framework prepared by the Office of the US Trade Representative sets out broad categories for the negotiations: tariffs and quotas, trade barriers other than tariffs, such as regulations on US goods, digital trade, rules of origin for products, as well as economic security and other trade issues. The US aims to negotiate the new framework with about 18 major trading partners over the next two months, the people familiar with the matter said. The plan initially calls for six countries to attend talks in the first week, another six countries in the second week, and another six countries in the third week—a cycle of 18 countries that would repeat until the administration's own deadline of July 8. At that point, the countries that cannot reach an agreement would impose tariffs on each other unless Trump extends his 90-day pause in negotiations. It was initially unclear which countries would participate in the first phased negotiations.

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ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

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OVERVIEW OF INDICES

 last +/- %
E-Mini Future S&P 500 5,519.50 -0.5%
E-Mini Future Nasdaq-100 19,416.00 -0.6%
S&P/ASX 200 (Sydney) 8,006.50 +0.5%
Nikkei-225 (Tokyo) 35,838.04 +0.4%
Hang-Seng (Hongk.) 22,045.19 +0.3%
Shanghai-Comp. 3,295.83 +0.0%
Kospi (Seoul) 2,543.42 -0.1%

FINANCIAL MARKETS

EAST ASIA (HISTORY)

Slightly firmer - The stock markets are following Wall Street's positive lead from Friday, where initial small gains had stabilized during trading. In Tokyo, after the holiday on Tuesday, investors are eyeing the meeting of the Bank of Japan on Wednesday and Thursday. The expectation is that it will initially refrain from further interest rate hikes due to the unclear tariff situation. Furthermore, there is cautious optimism on the stock markets that the tariff storm conjured up by US President Donald Trump will ultimately prove less severe than initially feared, after Trump ordered a three-month pause, thus giving negotiations a chance. Market participants are citing encouraging news that the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Chinese authorities have informed some importers of US goods that they will forgo the recent 125 percent increase in tariffs on certain US imports. Real estate stocks are being sold in Hong Kong. Traders are citing this as a reaction to the Politburo's recent statement, noting that market speculation about more aggressive support measures for the real estate sector ahead of the meeting appears to have been overly optimistic. Longfor fell 1.1 percent, Country Garden also fell, and Shimao Group fell 1.2 percent. In Seoul, Hanwha Ocean rose 1.7 percent ahead of the release of its quarterly results. Meanwhile, the shipyard reported a new order. The share price of oil refiner S-Oil is trending slightly flat after its business results fell short of expectations.

WALL STREET

 INDEX last +/- % absolute +/- % YTD
DJIA 40,113.50 +0.1% 20.10 -6.9%
S&P 500 5,525.21 +0.7% 40.44 -8.6%
NASDAQ Comp 17,382.94 +1.3% 216.90 -11.1%
NASDAQ 100 19,432.56 +1.1% 218.16 -8.6%

Friday Thursday
NYSE turnover (shares) 948 million 1,087 million
Winners 1,462 2,329
Losers 1,274 444
unchanged 81 48

Firm - After the massive upward movement over the course of the week, the upward trend continued – with only a slightly slower momentum. There was no sign of the profit-taking that would have been expected – especially before the weekend, when new developments, for example, regarding tariffs, cannot be reacted to immediately. On a weekly basis, the S&P 500 gained 4.6 percent, despite having fallen sharply on Easter Monday. Buying continued to be driven primarily by hopes of a negotiated de-escalation of US tariff policy, Donald Trump's backpedaling in his attacks on the US Federal Reserve Chairman and thus the independence of the central bank, and recently, some renewed interest rate cut speculation. According to US Federal Reserve Banker Christopher Waller, the tariffs are unlikely to trigger a cycle of price increases. On the other hand, he says, the Fed may have to lower interest rates to respond to a slowing labor market. While statements regarding the tariff conflict between the US and China continued to diverge, there may be progress in negotiations with South Korea and Japan. On the economic front, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index sent a positive signal. It was revised upwards in the second reading. Alphabet's share price rose by 1.7 percent. The Google parent company earned more and generated higher revenue than expected in the first quarter thanks to higher advertising revenue from YouTube. Intel's share price fell by 6.7 percent. Although the semiconductor giant posted profits well above expectations in the first quarter, it also issued an unexpectedly weak revenue outlook for the second quarter. T-Mobile US's share price slipped by 11.2 percent. Although the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary reported better-than-expected results, the number of contract customers only increased by 495,000, whereas analysts had estimated 505,000. In the same period last year, the company had also acquired 532,000 new customers.

US BONDS

In the bond market, yields continued to decline after the US President dropped his tirades against the US Federal Reserve from the beginning of the week. The yield on ten-year bonds fell to 4.26 percent from 4.31 percent the previous day.

CURRENCY

 last +/- % 00:00 Fri, 09:32 % YTD
EUR/USD 1.1375 0.1 1.1362 1.1366 +9.8%
EUR/JPY 163.21 0.0 163.19 162.89 +0.3%
EUR/GBP 0.8541 0.0 0.8537 0.8544 +3.3%
GBP/USD 1.3317 0.1 1.3306 1.3303 +6.3%
USD/JPY 143.48 -0.1 143.63 143.30 -8.7%
USD/KRW 1,439.98 0.1 1,438.36 1,438.50 -2.5%
USD/CNY 7.2002 0.1 7.1956 7.1938 -0.2%
USD/CNH 7.2961 0.1 7.2891 7.2872 -0.6%
USD/HKD 7.7575 0.0 7.7573 7.7582 -0.1%
AUD/USD 0.6402 0.0 0.6402 0.6395 +3.4%
NZD/USD 0.5967 0.0 0.5964 0.5975 +6.6%
BTC/USD 94,290.40 -0.1 94,419.20 93,588.25 +1.4%
YTD based on the previous day's closing price

There was little activity on the foreign exchange market in US trading, with the euro last trading at $1.1362 after temporarily falling to $1.1320.

++++ RAW MATERIALS +++++

OIL

 last VT closing +/- % +/- USD % YTD
WTI/Nymex 63.39 63.18 +0.3% +0.21 +1.6%
Brent/ICE 67.24 66.91 +0.5% +0.33 -12.0%
YTD based on the previous day's closing price

Oil prices rose by 0.7 percent, although traders said that, in addition to global trade tensions and related demand concerns, speculation about a possible oversupply continued to be the main topic on the oil market.

METALS

 last previous day +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold 3,293.05 3,319.65 -0.8% -26.60 +26.5%
Silver 28.94 29.11 -0.6% -0.17 +4.3%
Platinum 859.04 859.27 -0.0% -0.23 -1.9%
Copper 4.824 4.84 -0.3% -0.02 +18.8%
YTD based on the previous day's closing price

The price of gold fell sharply, giving up the previous day's gains. The price fell by 1.4 percent, or $47, to $3,304, but had already been significantly cheaper during the day. At the beginning of the week, the price had risen to a record high of just over $3,500, when the precious metal was still in high demand as a safe haven. There was speculation among traders that the price might have just peaked, especially since it had previously risen very rapidly and sharply.

REPORTS SINCE FRIDAY 8 PM

CHINA - Trade Policy

China has secretly exempted imports of some US products from its retaliatory tariffs, which would be difficult to obtain from other countries. Officials have informed some importers of US goods that they will waive the recent tariff increase on certain US goods of up to 125 percent, an insider told the Wall Street Journal.

USA - Trade Policy

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April 28, 2025 01:57 ET (05:57 GMT)

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