Asian stock exchanges in random order and futures on Wall Street and European stock exchanges down slightly in the wake of OPEC+’s decision to cut oil production by one million barrels a day, a move that risks complicating central banks’ plans in the fight to inflation. Tokyo and Sydney rose by 0.5%, Seoul dropped by 0.2%, Hong Kong by 0.7% while the Chinese indexes of Shanghai and Shenzhen rose by 0.5% and 0.9% respectively. Nasdaq and Dow Jones futures, as well as the Euro Stoxx 50 index, fell by a few decimal places.
The risk of more persistent inflation is reflected in the rise in government bond yields, with US Treasuries advancing 5 basis points to 3.52%. Oil rises by more than 4%, even if it retreats from the highs reached after the OPEC+ decision: the WTI, which had jumped up to 81.69 dollars (+8%), advances by 4.6% to 79.15 dollars, while Brent, which has risen to 86.44 dollars (+8.2%), trades at 83.6 (+4.6%). The data on the confidence of large Japanese companies, which fell to its lowest since December 2020, does not help the mood of investors. The manufacturing PMI indices of the Eurozone and the United States are expected today, as well as Italy and Spain.
The appointments
Today’s macro agenda includes the final indications of manufacturing companies recorded in March both in the Eurozone and in the United States.
In the euro area, the first estimate signaled a drop in thePMI index to 47.1 points (a low in the last 4 months) from 48.5 in February. A decrease in activity is also expected for Italy (from 52 to 51.4 points), which however remains expanding, bounded by the 50 points of the index.
In the United States, the equivalent parameter on the trend of manufacturing Ism is seen down slightly from 47.7 to 47.1 points.