Markets, 3 things you absolutely need to know
The markets today opened the session in Asia under the banner of uncertainty, with TOT reasons for maximum alert for investors.
Japanese stocks advanced albeit in a context of a weakening yen, while Chinese stocks lost ground, with regional trade overall lacking a clear direction in a holiday-shortened week that will end with the eagerly awaited reading of the US inflation observed by Fed.
Market participants are trying to gauge which of the major central banks will be the first to cut rates this year, with the month of June having become crucial.
Meanwhile, overnight on Wall Street the three main indexes continued to slide, including the S&P 500 which recorded its third consecutive day of losses with -0.28%.
The Dow Jones Industrial fell marginally, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite posted a bigger loss of 0.42%.
However, the major averages are on track to close out a fifth consecutive positive month despite recent declines, with the S&P rising more than 2% in March.
In this context, the market day is marked by these 3 themes of global financial importance.
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Yen plunge The yen has slipped to the weakest level in the last 34 years against the dollar.
This downward movement sounded like a warning to Japan that, if necessary, it will take direct action to slow the decline.
The currency fell 0.3% to 151.97 per dollar in Tokyo, surpassing the 151.95 level that helped trigger direct currency intervention in October 2022 and prompting Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki to step up his suggestions on possible actions up to maximum alert.
2.
The Baltimore Bridge Collapse and Its Effects Baltimore's 1.6-mile-long bridge collapsed in a matter of seconds.
The catastrophic consequences are set to continue for weeks.
About 2.5 million tons of coal, hundreds of cars produced by Ford Motors and General Motors, timber and chalk are at risk of being destroyed after the Dali container ship crashed and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the early hours of Tuesday.
Six people are presumed dead after a search in the Patapsco River, officials said Tuesday evening.
The toll could have been worse had it not been for a distress call from the Singapore-flagged vessel which had lost power.
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Oil prices continue to decline Crude oil slipped for a second day after news that crude inventories rose in the United States, the world's largest oil user .
The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute said national inventories rose by 9.3 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data.
The API also reported an increase of 2.4 million barrels of crude at its Cushing, Oklahoma hub, although gasoline inventories fell.
Oil prices have rallied this quarter, after emerging from a narrow range that held for the first two months of the year.
Geopolitical uncertainty with Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure and the war in the Red Sea, combined with extensive supply cuts by OPEC+ have supported prices, even as the uncertain economic outlook in China and robust growth in the Non-OPEC supply remains obstacles to a possible new leap forward.
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