As of Wed, May 15, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
Dollar Index +0.22%, 97.52
USDJPY, +0.43%, $109.68
EURUSD, -0.19%, $1.1206
GBPUSD, -0.40%, $1.2908
USDCAD, -0.11%, $1.3462
AUDUSD, -0.14%, $0.6938
NZDUSD, -0.03%, $0.6571
The U.S. Treasury market was more subdued on Tuesday, registering modest declines amid the rebound in equities. The 2-yr yield increased two basis points to 2.20%, and the 10-yr yield increased one basis point to 2.42%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.22% to 97.52. WTI crude rose 1.2% to $61.84/bbl, bolstered by increased concerns about supply disruption in the Middle East.
Markets liked Trump’s comments on trade yesterday, although they weren’t particularly new or substantive. Trump touted his relationship with President Xi as “extraordinary” and described the current trade dispute as a “little squabble.” According to Trump, he will meet with President Xi at G-20 next month. Both sides expressed intentions to continue to work on a trade deal, which helped foster a belief that the recent dip in risk-assets was a good buying opportunity. “When the time is right we will make a deal with China. My respect and friendship with President Xi is unlimited but, as I have told him many times before, this must be a great deal for the United States or it just doesn’t make any sense. We have to be allowed to make up some of the tremendous ground we have lost to China on Trade since the ridiculous one sided formation of the WTO. It will all happen, and much faster than people think!”, Trump tweeted.
S&P500, +0.80%, 2,834.41
Nasdaq, +1.06%, 7,401.88
Nikkei Futures, -0.32%, 21,102.5
S&P 500 advanced as much as 1.5% on Tuesday on positive U.S.-China trade rhetoric. The broad-based rebound effort, however, lost steam into the close, leaving the S&P 500 up 0.8% for the session. The lighter tone on trade led investors to pick up some of the more beaten-up stocks within the S&P 500 information technology (+1.6%), energy (+1.1%), industrials (+1.1%), and consumer discretionary (+0.9%) sectors. The utilities sector (-0.9%) was the lone sector with a loss after it was the only group to finish higher yesterday.
In corporate news, Comcast (CMCSA 42.91, +0.63, +1.5%) agreed to give Walt Disney (DIS 133.20, +1.86, +1.4%) immediate and full operational control of Hulu. Disney will also be able to buy Comcast’s stake in Hulu in 2024 at a valuation of at least $27.5 billion. Uber (UBER 39.96, +2.86) was a notable standout, increasing 7.7% after a rough start as a public company.