MILANO – European and American markets are headed for a positive opening, after Asian equities moved higher on the lead of Chinese tech. While the economic trajectory assumed by the Dragon is worrying, where the very hard lockdowns for Xi Jinping’s “Covid zero” policy are slowing down activity, investors are picking up signs of a rebound from some data on infections and are betting on an easing of the regulatory tightening on the sector technological. In particular, the three days without contagion from Covid to Shangahi, as well as a meeting between authorities and technology giants, from which a dialogue is expected, gave good hope.
The futures on trades of the Old Continent are therefore moderately up. According to the strategists of Jp Morganthe equity markets in the US and Europe are pricing a 70% chance of recession in the medium term, a very high share compared to other asset classes (we are 50% in the investment-grade debt market), which gives a perspective of potential rebound, should this recession be dodged.
In the morning, Asia has treated all in all positive by betting on the end of the lockdown a Shanghai for June 1: the Chinese stock market rose, with that of Tokyoaround + 0.4% while the tech rallied Hong Kong which has come to bounce up to + 4%.
Weak closing, last night, for Wall Street, also weighed down by the decline in activity in the state of New York: the S & P500 lost 0.4% and the Nasdaq 1.2%. New thud of Twitter which lost 8.18% due to fears that Elon Musk may abandon the $ 44 billion acquisition, or in any case it may move towards an attempt at an agreement at a lower valuation pending clarifying the true consistency of fake accounts that could weigh up to 5% of the total, with serious damage for the advertisers. Among the heaviest stocks are those of discretionary consumer goods, with Tesla leaving 5.88% on the ground.
Among currencies, theeuro it was slightly higher on the dollar on opening as investors cut back on whether interest rate hikes in the US will drive further dollar gains. The greenback broke its two-decade high this week while today it was slightly weaker on the Asian circuits, while US bond yields fell slightly. The euro rose slightly against the dollar at 1.0442 as well as against the yen at 135.04. Dollar / yen up 0.2% to reach 129.32.
Pending the definitive data on Italian inflation, the unemployment rate in France it fell to 7.3% in the first quarter of 2022 from 7.4% the previous period and below market expectations of 7.4%. This is the lowest unemployment rate since the second quarter of 2020, as the number of unemployed fell from 18,000 to 2.2 million. Today, investors are watching US retail sales and some speeches by Fed governors.
Prices of petrolium slightly down: the WTI drops 0.45% to 113.7 dollars a barrel, Brent drops 0.39% on 113.8 dollars.