News
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
The UN Human Rights Council announced plans to hold a special session on Thursday to address Russia’s alleged violations in the ongoing Ukraine war. The RUB/USD forex pair, meanwhile, traded higher this morning.
Japan’s household spending fell by 2.3% in March, following a 1.1% increase in February. This was the first downturn in personal spending since last December and exerting pressure on the JPY/USD pair in forex trading this morning.
Australia’s NAB business confidence index fell to 10 in April, from a 5-month high of 16 a month ago. The news sent the AUD/USD forex pair sharply lower.
UK’s retail sales contracted by 1.7% year-over-year in April, following a 0.4% decline in the prior month. However, the GBP/USD pair rose in forex trading this morning.
New Zealand’s electronic card transactions climbed 7% in April, after declining for two straight months. Despite this being the strongest monthly growth in card spending since last November, the NZD/USD forex pair remained under pressure.
What’s happening: Shares of BioNTech SE gained on Monday, after the company reported a sharp rise in sales and earnings for its first quarter.
What happened: The German biotech firm reiterated its forecast for covid-19 vaccine sales for the full year.
However, one of the company’s major rivals issued a more bullish sales forecast for their covid-19 vaccine last week.
How were the results: The Mainz, Germany-based company reported a surge in sales and earnings for the first quarter, with both figures exceeding market views.
Why it matters: Demand for covid-19 vaccines has been easing in regions like North America and Europe, with most people willing to take the shot having already received their booster doses. Further doses are now being recommended only for vulnerable senior citizens.
BioNTech and its vaccine partner Pfizer sold around 750 million covid-19 vaccine doses during the first quarter. As of end-April 2022, orders for around 2.4 billion vaccine doses have been signed by the companies to be delivered through the year. With this, the companies are on course to delivering over 2 billion vaccine doses to low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2022.
BioNTech recorded an operating income of €4.75billion for the quarter, up from €1.67 billion in the year-earlier period.
BioNTech reiterated its forecast of between €13 billion and €17 billion in covid-19 vaccine sales in 2022, which translates to between $13.74 billion and $17.96 billion in revenues. This is lower than the sales of €19 billion recorded in 2021.
Meanwhile, rival covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna issued a more bullish forecast, projecting higher covid-19 vaccine sales during the second half of the year citing demand for booster doses during autumn.
How shares responded: BioNTech’s American Depositary Receipts gained 3.1% to settle at $140.32 on Monday, following the release of quarterly results. The stock has lost more than 39% since the start of the year.
What to watch: Investors will keep an eye on the spread of covid-19 infections, as a resurgence could provide another boost to the company’s vaccine sales. Markets also await trial data from BioNTech’s shot developed specifically for the Omicron variant.
Context: Oil futures fell sharply on Monday, amid growing concerns around the Chinese economy.
Details: Investors are concerned about interest rate hikes in China and the possibility of the economy heading for a recession due to tighter covid-19 restrictions.
US stocks fell sharply, with the greenback surging to a two-decade high on Monday, making crude more expensive for foreign currency holders.
China also released disappointing trade data on Monday, which fuelled concerns around energy demand from the second-largest consumer of oil. Although exports from China grew by 3.9% year-over-year to $273.62 billion in April, the rate moderated sharply from 14.7% in the previous month. China’s imports also stalled from a year ago at $222.50 billion in April.
During the first four months of the year, crude imports by China declined 4.8% year-over-year.
Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a proposal for a gradual embargo on Russian oil, which provided some support to oil prices. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia reduced June prices for crude oil to Asia and Europe.
WTI crude for June delivery tumbled $6.68, or 6.1%, to close at $103.09 per barrel on the NYMEX on Monday. Brent crude for July delivery fell $6.45 to settle at $105.94 per barrel. Prices of both contracts have surged around 34% year to date.
In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline for June delivery declined 12 cents to $3.64 a gallon, while June natural gas slipped $1.01 to $7.03 per 1,000 cubic feet on Monday.
What to watch: Traders await the release of API’s data on US crude oil stockpiles, which had contracted by 3.479 million barrels in the week ending April 29, following a 4.78 million barrel increase in the prior week.
Markets will also keep an eye on the ongoing war in Ukraine and rising covid-19 cases in some parts of the world.
Other Markets: European trading indices closed lower on Monday, with the FTSE 100, DAX 40, CAC 40 and STOXX Europe 600 down by 2.32%, 2.15%, 2.75% and 2.90%, respectively.
Technical Levels | News Sentiment |
EUR/USD – 1.0557 and 1.0571 | Positive |
USD/JPY – 129.82 and 130.12 | Negative |
WTI Crude Oil – 100.37 and 101.91 | Positive |
Natural Gas – 7.042 and 7.084 | Positive |
Nikkei 225 – 25793.84 and 25882.34 | Positive |
Saudi Arabia’s industrial production, Turkey’s unemployment rate and labour force participation rate, Italy’s industrial production, Eurozone’s ZEW indicator of economic sentiment, Germany’s ZEW indicator of economic sentiment and ZEW current conditions, US NFIB small business optimism index, Redbook index and IBD/TIPP economic optimism index, Brazil’s retail sales, car production, auto sales, current account, foreign direct investment, value of loans and Central Bank of Brazil’s Copom meeting minutes, South Africa’s SACCI business confidence index, as well as India’s central government budget value.