Coming off of a volatile Friday that saw the NASDAQ lose 2.0% and several big name tech stocks get hammered, the three main US index futures contracts are all up about 0.5% this morning, while in Europe, the Dax is up 0.5% and the FTSE is up 1.6%.
In addition to some bargain hunting and dip buying, a quiet weekend in the Middle East appears to have eased fears somewhat as Gold is down 2.2% and Silver is down 4.6% so far this morning. Commodities are mixed with Copper down 0.1%, Natural Gas up 1.3% and US Crude Oil down 0.6%. Bitcoin is up 1.9% clawing back some of last week’s losses following a halving over the weekend. Inflation concerns, have not gone away completely as the US 10-year treasury note yield has climbed up toward 4.65% boosting the US Dollar 0.1%-0.4% against other majors like the Euro, Pound and Loonie.
Today is relatively quiet with only one report of note from Verizon ($1.15 vs street $1.12, up 1.6% premarket), but we are now moving into the heart of earnings season which runs for the next three weeks. This week brings results from Big Tech, Big Auto, Big Industry, Big Pharma, Big Rail and Big Oil, just to name a few sectors. Headliners include: GE Aerospace*, GM and Visa on Tuesday; Meta Platforms*, IBM, Chipotle*,and Boeing on Wednesday, Microsoft*, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Caterpillar* Intel, Merck, Intel and Starbucks on Thursday, wrapping up with Exxon Mobil and Chevron on Friday. Canadian earnings season also gets underway this week with results due from Canadian National Tuesday, Canadian Pacific and Rogers on Wednesday, and Agnico-Eagle on Thursday.
Canadian inflation pressures have started to pick up once again, particularly raw material prices (4.7% vs street 2.9% and previous 2.1%). Notable reports for the rest of this week include US GDP on Thursday, Flash PMI reports from around the world tomorrow and Canada retail sales plus US durable goods orders on Wednesday. The next Fed meeting is next Wednesday May the first.
*Shares of GE Aerospace, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Chipotle and Caterpillar are all held in portfolios managed by SIA Wealth Management.