Renewed growth warnings, claims data due, and more Archegos fallout.
Uneven
The surge in Covid-19 cases has the potential to damage overall global growth, while threatening to widen the gap between rich and poor nations. India reported a world record one-day jump in cases at 314,835 yesterday amid reports the country’s health system is close to collapse. The World Health Organization also warned on increasing infections in Argentina, Turkey and Brazil. A new law allowing the federal government in Germany to impose curfews and lockdowns was passed in the lower house of parliament there.
Eco day
The European Central Bank announces its latest policy decision at 7:45 a.m. Eastern Time, with analysts expecting no policy changes. ECB President Christine Lagarde will likely be questioned on how long the bank plans to keep buying bonds at an accelerated pace in the press conference beginning at 8:30 a.m. In the U.S., the latest weekly jobless claims numbers will land just as Lagarde starts speaking, with consensus predicting a rise to 610,000.
Ache goes on
Credit Suisse Group AG announced it is raising $2 billion from investors and cutting the hedge fund unit at the center of the Archegos Capital Management losses. The bank said the total hit from that mess now stands at $5.5 billion. Shares in the lender dropped more than 6% in the wake of the announcement. The SEC is considering tougher disclosure requirements for investment firms, with officials exploring how to increase transparency for the types of derivatives bets that sank Archegos.
Markets rise
Earnings are dominating market moves this morning ahead of the ECB meeting and U.S. economic data. Overnight the MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.9% while Japan’s Topix index closed 1.8% higher. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index rose 0.6% by 5:50 a.m. with technology among the best-performing sectors. S&P 500 futures pointed to a small move lower at the open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 1.559%, oil slipped and gold was down.
Coming up…
U.S. existing home sales for March is at 10:00 a.m. Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity is at 11:00 a.m. President Joe Biden hosts a virtual climate summit which will be attended by dozens of leaders. It is another mammoth day for earnings with Intel Corp., AT&T Inc., Biogen Inc., Southwest Airlines Co. and American Airlines Group Inc. among the many companies reporting.
What we’ve been reading
Here’s what caught our eye over the last 24 hours.
And finally, here’s what Joe’s interested in this morning
People have this conception that there is a thing called “zombie companies” that are kept alive only by exceptionally cheap money or some other government arrangement and that in a truly free market they would disappear. Without getting into the debate…