Market News 8 April 2021

Low volumes and incremental changes continued last night as markets had little to fear and little to cheer. Earnings season will gobble up headline space soon, though, so resting on laurels with incremental new record highs for the SnP500 isn't such a bad thing. Even gold ended a four-day rally with muted trading as the latest minutes from the Feds March meeting repeated what's already integrated into asset prices.

Buyers got onboard Cruise operators again, with Carnival up 1.4% and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings 0.74%. One of the largest private equity deals of all time has been pitched by international private equity and credit company CVC Capital with an 18-billion-dollar tilt for Japans Toshiba Corp. CVC manages over 300 investors while Toshiba is currently tasked to decommission nuclear plants in Japan, including theirs in Fukushima, where a tsunami set off reactor meltdowns. Microsoft did most of the weighted lifting, up 1.1% while Apple, gained 0.7%, to reclaim the 50-day moving average we previously noted when it failed two months ago.

Riveting highlights from the Fed include 'indicators of economic activity and employment had turned up recently, although the sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic remained weak.' The dovish release tied it up with all members agreeing to keep federal funds rates at 0 to ¼ per cent. 10-year Treasury note yields weren't about to argue either and lost three basis point to 1.653%. Much like the market, there's division among Fed members on inflations outlook. One camp believes supply bottlenecks and demand would pressure prices up while their opposites have faith that market practices and long-ingrained forces would push back hard. Growth and employment forecasts were upgraded, and the Fed sees headline inflation at 2.4% this year before retreating to 2.1% by 2023 as it ranges above their headline target of two per cent.

Meanwhile, Biden is working hard to pitch his Infrastructure plan, saying it's imperative to keep the U.S. competitive against China and that it's also 'the single largest investment in American jobs since World War II.' His most concise moment came as he addressed the international challenges to American supremacy: 'Do you think China is waiting around to invest in its digital infrastructure or in research and development? I promise you, they are not waiting. But they're counting on American democracy to be too slow, too limited and too divided to keep pace.'

President Biden also announced that the country's leading vaccine program would be open to all American adults by April 19, with a third of the U.S. population already dosed by at least one shot to date.

Large brokers jumped into the vacuum of news with views on the markets outlook in the near term. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon was upbeat on the economy, saying it could run into 2023 from' excess savings, new stimulus savings, huge deficit spending, more QE, a new potential infrastructure bill, a successful vaccine and euphoria around the end of the pandemic..' Others are far more cautious with research from Deutsche Bank saying growth, as measured by the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index, usually tops out 10 to 11 months after a recession ends, which is now. Another technical view from Bank of Americas Sell Side Indicator, which averages recommended equity allocation from nine Wall Street strategists and is now less than a point from a 'sell' signal.

Europe's STOXX 600 lost 0.2% from record highs while a weaker Pound lifted Britain's export-heavy index FTSE 100. The EU's purchasing manager's index, which combines manufacturing and services activity, was 53.2, after Februarys 48.8, beating estimates at 52.5. Our futures are up 35 points ten minutes to open after the S&P/ASX 200 added 42 points yesterday to beat February 2020s high.

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