US Treasuries rose on Wed as traders pared bets on aggressive hikes by the Fed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped 2.26 basis points (bps) to 2.6987%. The yield on the 2-year slipped 5.73 bps to 2.3481%. Yields and bond prices trade in the opposite direction.
Shares on Wall Street rallied on Wed, as corporates began reporting 1Q 2022 earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 344.23 pts or 1.01% higher to close at 34,564.59. The S&P 500 index rose 1.12%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.03%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gained 1.92%.
Mega cap tech stocks were higher including Amazon (AMZN US, +3.15%), Microsoft (MSFT US, +1.97%), Alphabet (GOOGL US, +1.71%), Apple (AAPL US, +1.63%) and Meta Platforms (FB US, +0.40%). Chip stocks climbed with Nvidia (NVDA US) gaining 3.25%.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM US, -3.22%) shares fell after giving its results, but shares of Fastenal (FAST US, +2.24%) and Delta Air Lines (DAL US, +6.21%) traded higher. JPM said that it added US$902m to its reserves for bad debt, as the odds of a recession were slightly higher because of rising inflation and the war in Ukraine.
US Treasury yields fell as fixed-income traders digested the second day of hot inflation data. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped 2.26 basis points (bps) to 2.6987%. The yield on the 2-year slipped 5.73 bps to 2.3481%.
The US Labor Department’s producer price index (PPI), which measures the prices paid by wholesalers, increased 11.2% from a year ago, the most in a data series going back to Nov 2010.
Oil prices rose even as the IEA cut its global demand growth estimates due to China's renewed lockdowns. The front-month Brent and WTI futures closed up $4.14 at US$108.78/bbl and $3.65 at US$104.25/bbl respectively.
The ICE dollar index (DXY), which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.42% to 99.875.
During Tokyo trade Wed, the yen sank weakened to the 126 yen level against the US dollar, its weakest level since May 2002.
The most actively traded US gold futures (Jun) contracts settled up $8.60, or 0.4%, at US$1,984.70/oz. May silver, which is the most actively traded silver futures, rose 29.5 cents, or 1.1%, to end at US$26.030/oz.
European equity markets finished mixed on Wed. The UK FTSE gained 0.05%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.07%, while the German DAX retreated 0.34%.
Tomorrow (April 15) is Good Friday. There would be no Wealth Daily.