Wall Street\u2019s temperature gauge ended the week without a clear trend line. Gains in the small\u2011 and mid\u2011cap arena stretched to a fifth consecutive week, yet the Dow Jones Industrial inched lower. The S&P 500 and tech\u2011heavy Nasdaq surrendered 0.47\u202fpercent and 0.27\u202fpercent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monday opened with a whimper, snapping the S&P\u2019s nine\u2011session winning spree. Sentiment pivoted mid\u2011week after headlines signalled that senior U.S. and Chinese negotiators would sit down in Switzerland, stoking hopes that the tariff stand\u2011off might cool. On Thursday those hopes broadened when Washington and London unveiled the first bilateral accord since the reciprocal duties imposed in early April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Open Market Committee, meeting Wednesday, froze the target range at 4.25\u202fpercent\u20114.50\u202fpercent as every major forecaster expected. Its communiqu\u00e9 sounded upbeat on current activity yet flagged that the balance of risks around inflation and unemployment has tilted higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chair Jerome Powell, in his press briefing, repeated that policy makers can afford to \u201cwatch the data roll in.\u201d He acknowledged the uncomfortable possibility that fresh tariffs could stoke prices while damping output\u2014a mix that could pull the Fed\u2019s dual mandate in opposite directions. Rate\u2011futures pricing now assigns a slimmer chance of a cut at the June gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Macro releases were sparse. The ISM services gauge climbed to 51.6 in April, spreading the expansion streak to ten months. New business, hiring and supplier deliveries ticked up; overall activity stayed healthy at 53.7. The snag: the prices paid sub\u2011index surged to 65.1, a two\u2011year peak heavily traced to import levies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By contrast, the manufacturing PMI, published earlier, confirmed a second straight contraction. Survey chair Timothy Fiore noted firms are trimming output and payrolls while they \u201cfeel their way through an opaque outlook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Treasuries sold off modestly, nudged by the Fed hold and trade\u2011related optimism. Muni paper outperformed thanks to meagre new issuance. Investment\u2011grade corporates slipped, while high\u2011yield volumes stayed thin; abundant cash balances and paltry supply underpinned spreads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Data: Reuters via Yahoo!\u202fFinance and Bloomberg)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Continental gauges inched higher for a fourth week as trade d\u00e9tente chatter cushioned sentiment. The STOXX\u202f600 added 0.29\u202fpercent. Germany\u2019s DAX leapt 1.79\u202fpercent; Italy\u2019s FTSE\u202fMIB 2.72\u202fpercent. Paris ceded 0.34\u202fpercent, and London\u2019s FTSE\u202f100 dipped 0.48\u202fpercent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bank of England trimmed Bank Rate 25\u202fbp to 4.25\u202fpercent in a 5\u20114 vote. Minutes revealed a knife\u2011edge debate; two dissenters wanted to hold unchanged. Investors duly pared bets on a third 2025 cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stockholm\u2019s Riksbank left policy unchanged at 2.25\u202fpercent but jettisoned its previous \u201cno\u2011move\u201d bias, hinting that softer global growth could open space to ease. Oslo\u2019s Norges Bank held at 4.5\u202fpercent; deputy governor Pal\u202fLongva said the first move lower would \u201cmost likely\u201d arrive in 2025, provided inflation calms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Output in German workshops jumped 3\u202fpercent month\u2011on\u2011month in March, well above forecasts, as exporters raced to beat incoming U.S. tariffs. Orders climbed 3.6\u202fpercent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RICS data showed the post\u2011incentive lull: the house\u2011price balance sank to a nine\u2011month trough and sales volumes fell the most since August\u202f2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nikkei 225 climbed 1.83\u202fpercent and the broader TOPIX 1.70\u202fpercent during the Golden Week\u2011shortened session, aided by a weaker yen that slid beyond \u00a5145\u202fper dollar. Ten\u2011year JGB yields rose to 1.35\u202fpercent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S.\u2013Japan tariff negotiations made scant headway. Tokyo is lobbying for full withdrawal of 24\u202fpercent reciprocal duties and the additional 25\u202fpercent levies on autos, steel and aluminium, while U.S. negotiators eye greater access for farm exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Real wages contracted 2.1\u202fpercent year\u2011on\u2011year in March; nominal growth of 2.1\u202fpercent fell short of forecasts, casting doubt on the Bank of Japan\u2019s timeline for policy normalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A holiday\u2011shortened week closed in the green: the CSI\u202f300 +2.00\u202fpercent, Shanghai Composite +1.92\u202fpercent, Hang Seng +1.61\u202fpercent. Optimism flowed from Geneva trade talks and fresh liquidity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The PBOC shaved its seven\u2011day reverse\u2011repo rate to 1.4\u202fpercent and lowered the reserve\u2011requirement ratio, injecting roughly RMB\u202f1\u202ftrillion. The central bank also trimmed relending rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n April customs data: Exports to the U.S. fell 21\u202fpercent y\/y after the 145\u202fpercent tariff hike, but sales to India, ASEAN and the EU jumped, cushioning the blow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CNB sliced the two\u2011week repo rate 25\u202fbp to 3.50\u202fpercent amid softer commodity prices and slower global growth. Board members called the move \u201cvery cautious,\u201d pointing to sticky services inflation and hot property prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NBP reduced its reference rate 50\u202fbp to 5.25\u202fpercent as CPI eased to 4.2\u202fpercent and activity indicators cooled. Further direction will hinge on data and the evolving trade backdrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" United States Wall Street\u2019s temperature gauge ended the week without a clear trend line. Gains in the small\u2011 and mid\u2011cap arena stretched to a fifth consecutive week, yet the Dow Jones Industrial inched lower. The S&P 500 and tech\u2011heavy Nasdaq surrendered 0.47\u202fpercent and 0.27\u202fpercent. Monday opened with a whimper, snapping the S&P\u2019s nine\u2011session winning spree. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"template-parts\/single-post-ai.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[18,21,19],"class_list":["post-2166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-investing","tag-equities","tag-fed","tag-us"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3738,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166\/revisions\/3738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Index<\/td> Friday’s Close<\/td> Week’s Change<\/td> % Change YTD<\/td><\/tr> DJIA<\/td> 41,249.38<\/td> -68.05<\/td> -3.04%<\/td><\/tr> S&P 500<\/td> 5,659.91<\/td> -26.76<\/td> -3.77%<\/td><\/tr> Nasdaq Composite<\/td> 17,928.92<\/td> -48.81<\/td> -7.16%<\/td><\/tr> S&P MidCap 400<\/td> 2,946.27<\/td> 14.26<\/td> -5.60%<\/td><\/tr> Russell 2000<\/td> 2,023.07<\/td> 2.34<\/td> -9.29%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Europe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Thread\u2011the\u2011Needle at Threadneedle Street<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Nordic Notes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Germany\u2019s Last Minute Surge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
UK Housing Cool\u2011Down<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Japan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Talks with Washington Crawl<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Pay Packets Lag<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
China<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Other Markets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Czech Republic \u2013 Careful Cut<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Poland \u2013 First Trim in 18\u202fMonths<\/h3>\n\n\n\n