Gold Silver Reports (GSR) – The sell-off that sent global markets into a tailspin last week stretched into Monday, with stock futures in Asia signaling further declines amid concern that global growth may be hurt by American protectionist policies. U.S. equity futures offered some hope of stabilization.
Trade Tensions
Global stocks put in their worst week since the rout in early February and erased all of the subsequent recovery, with losses deepening into the close of Friday trading in the U.S. Crude posted its biggest weekly gain since July and the yen rose to the strongest in more than 16 months against the dollar. U.S. stock futures were little changed in early trading Monday.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox News that he’s “cautiously hopeful” the top two economic powers will reach a deal to avoid the tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump ordered on at least $50 billion of imports. Part of the problem for investors is assessing how the tariffs will be implemented, particularly after Trump exempted a handful of key partners from planned steel and aluminum tariffs.
While this week may remain volatile as investors tweak portfolios prior to the end of the first quarter in a shortened trading week for many markets due to the Easter holiday, some say the sell-off is overdone. Market conditions are looking favorable heading into the second quarter and asset allocations should remain oriented toward growth, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
U.S. personal income and spending data for February, coupled with the Fed’s favored inflation gauge are the key pieces of U.S. data. Income and spending are forecast to grow at the same pace as January but consensus sees the core PCE deflator picking up to 1.6 percent from 1.5 percent.
This week’s European economic agenda is highlighted by March CPI readings in the big four euro-area economies and output data for the U.K. Headline inflation probably ticked up in Germany, France, Spain and Italy. A third estimate of U.K. GDP is set to confirm growth of 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter.
Read More: Gold Price Prediction, Correction Dependent on Risk Recovery
The U.S. Treasury will probably auction about $294 billion of bills and notes this week, its largest slate of supply ever.
Crude oil contracts will begin trading Monday on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange.
And these are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
✅ Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 1 percent in most recent Singapore trading.
✅ Futures on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 0.9 percent.
✅ New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 Index retreated 1 percent.
✅ The S&P 500 Index dropped 2.1 percent on Friday, bringing its weekly slide to 6 percent.
