© Reuters 5 major events in today’s financial market: Debt ceiling negotiations have made steady progress, and attention is paid to the G7 summit
Investing.com – Here are the top 5 things you need to know about the financial markets on Friday, May 19:
1.debtupper limittalksentence「stablesteppushEnter」
Staff have told U.S. President Joe Biden that talks to raise the U.S. debt ceiling of more than $31 trillion are making steady progress, sources said on Friday.
Even though Biden is in Japan for this weekend’s G7 summit, he has urged his team to press ahead with talks with Republicans, the report said.
At present, the two sides still disagree on the spending plan. It is widely expected that if no agreement is reached, the United States will default in early June at the earliest.
2.U.S. stock futures edge up
U.S. stock futures edged higher as investors hoped that the U.S. Congress would reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling.
Investing.com’s U.S. stock quotes show that as of 18:12 Beijing time (6:12 a.m. Eastern Time), blue-chip stocks rose 26.8 points, or 0.08%, and rose 6.1 points, or about 0.14%. Technology stocks mainly rose 26.3 points, or 0.19%.
In the last trading day, it rose 0.94%, the highest closing level since 2023; it also rose slightly; technology stocks rose 1.5%. Earlier, House Speaker McCarthy (Kevin McCarthy) hinted as early as next week agreed to raise the debt ceiling. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also urged the Senate to be ready for a vote by then.
3.Zelenskyorattended sevencountrysetgrouppeakmeeting
According to multiple media reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may personally attend the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is also expected to be the main content of the summit.
The meeting will start today and continue until Sunday (21st), but Zelensky is expected to arrive in Japan on the evening of the 20th, so he will only attend the meeting on the 21st (the last day of the Hiroshima summit). Earlier, according to the Japanese side, Zelensky would only participate in the meeting online.
Zelensky’s upcoming G7 summit comes as the group ramps up sanctions on Russia, which Western countries say will deprive Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and Serve. The sanctions include restricting the export of items vital to Russia on the battlefield and hitting entities accused of helping Russia deliver supplies to the front lines.
4.Alibaba Hong Kong shares end lower6%，middlecountryweak consumer spending
Alibaba ( HK: ) Hong Kong stocks closed down more than 6% today, after releasing flat quarterly results, mainly due to weak consumer spending in China.
The company’s revenue for the three months ended March 31 was 208.2 billion yuan, slightly below analysts’ estimates of 210.3 billion yuan. Among them, Alibaba’s China business sales fell by 1%, reflecting the slow recovery of Chinese consumer spending this year after the epidemic.
Although well-known investor Michael Burry previously increased his position, which led to a rise in Alibaba’s stock price, today’s decline erased these gains and dragged the stock price back to a two-month low.
5.crudeup more than 1%the weekly line is expected to end the four-day losing streak
Oil prices rose as news that the U.S. was expected to avoid a default soothed markets after investors feared economic turmoil from a U.S. default would dent demand.
As of 18:12 Beijing time (06:12 am Eastern Time), Investing.com Commodity Markets showed: up 1.16% to $72.69/barrel; up 1.23% to $76.79/barrel.
The crude oil market is up about 3 percent so far this week, its biggest weekly gain since early April and on track to break a four-week losing streak.
[This article is from Yingwei Caiqing Investing.com, to read more, please log in to cn.investing.com or download Yingwei Caiqing App]
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Compiler: Liu Chuan