The number of people receiving unemployment benefits in the United States hit a 53-year low, and the bond market was flat after the Federal Reserve (Fed) released the minutes of its March meeting. U.S. stocks were mixed on Thursday (7th). Before the deadline,Dow Jones Industrial Averagedown nearly 100 points or nearly 0.32%,Nasdaq Composite Indexup 0.15%,S&P 500 Indexrose 0.1%,Philadelphia SemiconductorThe index rose 0.36%.
The U.S. Labor Department released the latest unemployment benefits data. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits last week fell by 5,000 to 166,000 from the last revised 171,000, far below market expectations of 200,000, rewriting the number since November 1968. The record low, underscoring the strong job market, and the number of layoffs also hit a record low.
The Fed released the minutes of its March meeting, suggesting that the Fed will reduce its holdings of bonds at a rate of up to $95 billion per month. In addition, in order to cool the worst inflation in 40 years, many officials tend to raise interest rates by 2 yards. However, considering Russia and Ukraine The situation chose to raise interest rates by 1 yards, but still think that one or more rate hikes by 2 yards are suitable in the future.
In the Russian-Ukrainian war, a new round of sanctions was announced against Russia. In addition to the two adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Foreign Minister and his wife and some powerful people are also within the scope of sanctions, and will also impose sanctions on Russia. Sberbank, the largest financial institution, and Alfa Bank, the largest private bank, imposed sweeping restrictions.
In addition, US Treasury Secretary Yellen said at a hearing of the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee that Russia should be expelled from the Group of 20 (G20) and that if Russian officials attend the G20 meeting, the US will boycott it.
U.S. 10-year Treasury yields fell briefly as investors digested the Fed’s latest meeting minutes, rising to 2.65 percent by the time of writing, but the 5-year and 30-year yields remained inverted.
In terms of oil prices, members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) may release another 60 million barrels of strategic petroleum reserves (SPR), joining the Biden administration in releasing 180 million barrels of SPR to stem the sharp rise in oil prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After the release, West Texas crude oil (WTI) futures fell below the hundred yuan mark.Brent CrudeIt also fell, and both rose slightly by about 1% before the deadline.
As of 21:00 on Thursday (7th) Taipei time:
Stocks in focus:
HP (HPQ-US) rose 15.78% to $40.42 a share in early trade
Berkshire Hathaway (Berkshire Hathaway), headed by “stock god” Buffett, recently revealed another important investment recently. In order to buy nearly 121 million shares of HP stock, Berkshire (BRK.B-US) bought HP several times this week. , which currently holds about 11.4 percent of HP, worth $4.2 billion at Wednesday’s closing price.
SoFi Technologies(SOFI-US) fell 8.17% to $8.04 a share in early trade
Fintech start-up SoFi lowered its full-year forecast, with adjusted full-year revenue of about $1.47 billion, lower than the previous forecast of $1.57 billion, and adjusted EBITDA of $100 million, also lower than the previous forecast. $180 million. At the same time, the White House previously announced another extension of the student loan payment date, originally scheduled to be extended from May 1 to August 31, delaying the repayment date of millions of Americans, and SoFi, which operates a student loan refinancing business, was hit by a series of bad news. Affect the stock price to fall.
Pfizer (PFE-US) rose 0.85% to $53.32 a share in early trade
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer will buy privately held ReViral Ltd for up to $525 million, including a staggered payment, for an experimental drug for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The deal is Pfizer’s second acquisition in less than six months to strengthen its drug portfolio. Pfizer bought Arena Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 billion in December, adding a promising bowel disease treatment to its pipeline.
Today’s key economic data:
- The number of people receiving unemployment benefits in the United States for the week (as of April 2) reported 166,000, expected to be 200,000, and the previous value of 171,000
- The number of people receiving unemployment benefits in the United States this week (as of March 26) reported 1.523 million, expected 1.311 million, and the previous value of 1.506 million
Wall Street Analysis:
The ING analyst team said that was almost double the pace of the last time the watch was shrunk in the 2017-19 cycle. All signs are that the Fed is hitting the brakes hard and should be positive for the dollar.
Brent Donnelly of consulting firm Spectra Markets said the market is slow to accept the reality that quantitative tightening is coming much earlier than previously expected, which should support the dollar ahead of the May 4 Fed meeting.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities, said the market’s reaction to the Fed’s hawkish remarks should be less drastic if the pace of rate hikes and balance sheet reductions is clearly predictable.