US stocks finished with mild gains on what was a choppy session as focus centred on yen intervention - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

US stocks finished with mild gains with price action choppy amid a lack of major macro catalysts except for the reported yen intervention, while there were no tier 1 data releases although the US quarterly financing estimates came in above estimates ahead of the quarterly refunding announcement on Wednesday, which led to some downside in stocks and bonds in late trade before fading the moves into the close. Nonetheless, TSLA (+15%) and AAPL (+2.4%) were the notable gainers, with the former seeing a further short squeeze on reports it received approval for FSD in China, while AAPL benefitted from an upgrade at Bernstein ahead of its earnings on Thursday.
USD was pressured largely due to suspected Japanese intervention in the USD/JPY while the greenback will be contending with several key risk events this week including the FOMC and NFP report.
Looking ahead, highlights include South Korean Industrial Production & Retail Sales, Japanese Unemployment Rate, Industrial Production & Retail Sales, New Zealand ANZ Business Surveys, Australian Private Sector Credit, Chinese Official PMIs & Caixin Manufacturing PMI.

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Highlights include South Korean Industrial Production & Retail Sales, Japanese Unemployment Rate, Industrial Production & Retail Sales, New Zealand ANZ Business Surveys, Australian Private Sector Credit, Chinese Official PMIs & Caixin Manufacturing PMI.
Click here for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

US stocks finished with mild gains with price action choppy amid a lack of major macro catalysts except for the reported yen intervention, while there were no tier 1 data releases although the US quarterly financing estimates came in above estimates ahead of the quarterly refunding announcement on Wednesday, which led to some downside in stocks and bonds in late trade before fading the moves into the close. Nonetheless, TSLA (+15%) and AAPL (+2.4%) were the notable gainers, with the former seeing a further short squeeze on reports it received approval for FSD in China, while AAPL benefitted from an upgrade at Bernstein ahead of its earnings on Thursday.
SPX +0.32% at 5,147, NDX +0.36% at 17,878, DJIA +0.38% at 38,596, RUT +0.66% at 2,053.
Click here for a detailed summary.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

Treasury Quarterly Funding Estimates sees borrowing of USD 243bln in April-June (+41bln vs estimate in Jan), while it expects to borrow USD 847bln in July-September and assumes end-September cash balance of USD 850bln.

DATA RECAP

USD was pressured largely due to suspected Japanese intervention in the USD/JPY while the greenback will be contending with several key risk events this week including the FOMC and NFP report.
EUR bounced back from lows as the dollar softened with support seen near the 1.0700 level.
GBP strengthened to a fresh two-week high and breached its 200DMA of 1.2554.
JPY surged against the dollar and briefly traded at the 154.00 handle with Japanese authorities reported by Dow Jones to have intervened in the currency, although officials have refrained from confirming or denying whether there was intervention.

Treasuries rallied after soft European inflation data kicked the bid into month-end, while the Boeing jumbo IG deal capped strength.

Oil prices were lower in choppy trade, with positive noise around the Israel/Hamas peace talks taking some geopolitical risk premium out of the market.
Iraq's crude oil exports were at 106.1mln bbls in March, averaging 3.42mln BPD (prev. 3.34mln BPD in January), according to the Oil Ministry.
G7 is discussing setting a date of 2035 to shut down their coal-powered plants, while one country is still opposing the move, according to Reuters citing sources.

MIDDLE EAST

Saudi Arabia's Al-Sharq TV reported from an Egyptian source that a lull in the fighting is expected to be announced this weekend when the final polishes of the agreement are formulated, according to an Israeli Radio correspondent.
US Secretary of State Blinken said Washington has not seen a plan from Israel on the Rafah attack that provides protection for civilians, according to Sky News Arabia.
Arab six-party meeting with US Secretary of State Blinken discussed taking irreversible steps to implement the two-state solution, according to Al Arabiya citing SPD.
Ambrey said a Malta-flagged container ship was targeted en route from Djibouti to Jeddah, while the vessel was reportedly targeted with three missiles and it was assessed that the vessel was targeted due to its listed ongoing trade with Israel.

OTHER

UN sanctions monitor told a Security Council committee that debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on January 2nd was from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile, according to a report cited by Reuters. according to a report cited by Reuters.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

Japanese top currency diplomat Kanda offered no comments on whether there was FX intervention and said they will continue to take appropriate action against excessive FX moves but does not have a specific FX level in mind. Kanda said speculative, rapid and abnormal FX moves have a bad impact on the economy so are unacceptable and they are ready to respond 24 hours and 365 days when asked whether Japan was ready to take action in FX and will disclose at the end of May if there was intervention.
Japanese authorities reportedly carried out intervention in the FX market, according to Bloomberg citing Dow Jones.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

ECB's Knot (hawk) said he is increasingly confident inflation is falling towards the 2% target but the ECB must be cautious beyond a June rate cut.
ECB's Wunsch said during an interview from April 20th that the ECB should be cautious regarding a July cut and regarding a larger-than-25bps cut in June. Wunsch said the base case is at least two cuts and noted if they only do two or even three cuts, then they shouldn't communicate that they’re going to cut at every meeting, while he doesn't think the ECB has sufficient data to have confidence on 100bps of cuts throughout the year.
Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez said he has decided to stay on as PM.

DATA RECAP

German CPI Prelim. MM (Apr) 0.5% vs. Exp. 0.6% (Prev. 0.4%)
German CPI Prelim. YY (Apr) 2.2% vs. Exp. 2.3% (Prev. 2.2%)
German HICP Prelim. MM (Apr) 0.6% vs. Exp. 0.6% (Prev. 0.6%)
German HICP Prelim. YY (Apr) 2.4% vs. Exp. 2.3% (Prev. 2.3%)
Spanish CPI YY Flash NSA (Apr) 3.3% (Prev. 3.2%)
Spanish HICP Flash YY (Apr) 3.4% vs. Exp. 3.3% (Prev. 3.3%)
EU Consumer Confidence Final (Apr) -14.7 vs. Exp. -14.7 (Prev. -14.7)
EU Business Climate (Apr) -0.53 (Prev. -0.30, Rev. -0.32)
EU Services Sentiment (Apr) 6.0 vs. Exp. 6.7 (Prev. 6.3, Rev. 6.4)
EU Industrial Sentiment (Apr) -10.5 vs. Exp. -8.6 (Prev. -8.8, Rev. -8.9)
EU Economic Sentiment (Apr) 95.6 vs. Exp. 96.7 (Prev. 96.3, Rev. 96.2)