CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Fri, Apr 20, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
Dollar Index, +0.47%, $97.47
USDJPY, -0.08%, $111.97
EURUSD, -0.58%, $1.1231
GBPUSD, -0.37%, $1.2998
USDCAD, +0.26%, $1.3376
AUDUSD, -0.39%, $0.7151
NZDUSD, -0.67%, $0.6683
On Thursday, U.S. Treasuries finished on a higher note, pushing yields lower across the curve. The 2-yr yield declined two basis points to 2.38%, and the 10-yr yield declined three basis points to 2.56%. The U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.47% to 97.46. WTI crude increased 0.4% to $64.03/bbl.
U.S. Total retail sales in March increased 1.6% (consensus +0.9%). Sales strength was broad-based with nice gains seen across discretionary spending categories. This data will compute well in the calculation of the goods component for personal consumption expenditures in the Q1 GDP report. Initial claims for the week ending April 13 decreased by 5,000 to 192,000 (consensus 208,000). Continuing claims for the week ending April 6 decreased by 63,000 to 1.653 million.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, +0.16%, 2,905.03
Nasdaq, +0.12%, 7,689.72
Nikkei Futures, -0.72%, 22,110.0
S&P 500 increased 0.16% on Thursday to close out the holiday-shortened trading week. Leadership from the industrials sector (+1.1%) and a turnaround in the health care sector (+0.1%) contributed to the upside bias, as most sectors finished little changed.
In IPO news, Zoom Video Communications (ZM 62.00, +26.00, +72.2%, 15.90B) and Pinterest (PINS 24.40, +5.40, +28.4%, 10.1B) made their public debuts on Thursday. Zoom opened at $65.00 after pricing at $36.00, and Pinterest opened at $23.75 after pricing at $19.00.