Investors will be focusing on US stocks today, ahead of some major earnings and economic reports scheduled for release later in the day.
Context: US stocks closed higher on Monday, with the Dow climbing for the fourth consecutive session. Investors cheered the news of various countries starting or planning to ease their lockdown restrictions. Investors also assessed earnings reports from various companies.
Details: After posting a 1.9% weekly decline, the Dow rebounded on Monday. Optimism was fuelled by various states, including Oklahoma, Alaska and Georgia, beginning to loosen lockdown measures on businesses. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is also expecting the state to begin reopening after May 15.
In Europe, various governments disclosed plans to ease their restrictions, with the Spanish government planning to allow people to go for walks from May 2. Italy and Belgium also announced plans to ease some restrictions from May 4. France is expected to lift some restrictions from May 11.
The busiest earnings week kicked off on Monday, with giants like Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.com all set to disclose earnings this week.
Investors shrugged off weakness in oil prices as the WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude for June delivery dipped 24.6% to settle at $12.78 a barrel yesterday.
In corporate news, General Motors announced plans to suspend dividend and share buybacks to preserve liquidity. Arconic warned of a 12% decline in its first-quarter revenue. Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank said it expects to report upbeat results for the quarter.
In other news, gold futures for June delivery declined 0.7% to settle at $1,711.90 an ounce. The 10-year Treasury note yield rose 6.1 basis points to 0.66%.
What to watch: Markets will be looking for earnings reports from various large companies, including Alphabet, Caterpillar, Ford Motor, Pfizer, United Parcel Service, PepsiCo and Starbucks.
Investors also await some economic reports, including US wholesale inventories, goods trade balance, S&P Case-Shiller home price index, CB consumer confidence and Richmond Fed manufacturing index. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index, which rose 3.1% in January, is expected to increase 3.3% in February. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index is likely to decline to 88 in April, from its prior reading of 120.
Investors will continue to monitor the daily COVID-19 numbers, with the global number of cases surpassing 3,042,440. The US has so far confirmed over 988,450 coronavirus cases with around 56,250 deaths.
Other Markets: Asian indices closed mixed on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 and China’s Shanghai Composite index down by 0.06% and 0.16%. However, the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed higher by 1%.