Weekend News Roundup - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

• US stocks were mixed on Friday with outperformance in the Nasdaq seen thanks to Alphabet's (GOOGL) earnings beat and the SPX also finished in the green, while the Dow and Russell 2000 lagged as trade uncertainties remained with mixed messages from the US and China on whether the two sides have begun trade talks which China continued to deny.
• US President Trump met with Ukrainian President Zelensky at the Vatican for 15 minutes which Zelensky’s staff said was constructive, covered a lot of ground and they agreed to meet again, while the White House said the meeting was very productive.
• Looking ahead, highlights include China briefing on policies and measures.

More Newsquawk in 2 steps:

1. Subscribe to the free premarket movers reports

2. Trial Newsquawk’s premium real-time audio news squawk box for 7 days

LOOKING AHEAD

• Highlights include China briefing on policies and measures.
• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

• US stocks were mixed on Friday with outperformance in the Nasdaq seen thanks to Alphabet's (GOOGL) earnings beat and the SPX also finished in the green, while the Dow and Russell 2000 lagged as trade uncertainties remained with mixed messages from the US and China on whether the two sides have begun trade talks which China continued to deny.
• SPX +0.74% at 5,525, NDX +1.14% at 19,433, DJI +0.05% at 40,114, RUT +0.00% at 1,958.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

TRADE/TARIFFS

• USTR’s office was reported on Friday to have prepared a framework for staggered reciprocal trade negotiations aimed at streamlining talks with 18 partners on a rolling basis over the next 2 months until the US’s July 8th deadline, according to WSJ.
• US Treasury Secretary Bessent said he had interaction with his Chinese counterpart in Washington last week and thinks the Chinese will see the tariff level as unsustainable and he also thinks there is a path to an agreement with China on tariffs, according to ABC News. It was separately reported that Bessent had met with Japanese Finance Minister Kato on Thursday and held productive discussions across a broad range of bilateral issues including reciprocal trade, while he was said to be encouraged by discussions focused on an ‘expanded equilibrium’ which encourages rather than restricts trade.
• US Agriculture Secretary said the US is holding daily conversations with China over tariffs.
• China has reportedly quietly exempted some US-made products from tariffs with Beijing said to have been canvassing companies and waiving duties on US goods in sectors where there is a lack of alternatives, according to WSJ.
• Shein is said to have raised US prices on some items by as much as 377% ahead of tariff increases, according to Bloomberg.
• Fox’s Gasparino posted on X that the Trump Administration would like to roll out trade deals this week, at least the outlines that have been agreed upon, citing sources close to the matter.” However, he also noted there are a lot of moving targets that could delay matters, while the deals on deck include India, Japan and maybe South Korea and Australia, while the White House spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.
• Pershing Square CEO Ackman posted on X that the US could choose to unilaterally pause China tariffs to better facilitate US companies transitioning supply chains out of China, while he believes the US and China are incentivised to take tariffs down to more reasonable levels of 10%-20% as quickly as possible.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• US President Trump posted on Truth that “When Tariffs cut in, many people’s Income Taxes will be substantially reduced, maybe even completely eliminated. Focus will be on people making less than $200,000 a year. Also, massive numbers of jobs are already being created, with new plants and factories currently being built or planned. It will be a BONANZA FOR AMERICA!!! THE EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE IS HAPPENING!!!”. Trump also posted that “…this is a crucial week to work on “THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” which will contain Massive Tax Cuts, Strong Border Security Measures, Major Military Advancements, Dramatic Deregulation, Powerful Spending Reforms, and more!”
• Fed Financial Stability Report released on Friday stated that risks to global trade are the most frequently cited risk to the US financial system, while global trade risks, fiscal debt sustainability and policy uncertainty were the top concerns of Fed survey respondents. Survey respondents also cited foreign divestment from US assets and the value of the US dollar as new potential shocks.
• WSJ's Timiraos downplayed Fed's Hammack comment that was made on Thursday about how the Fed could move in June if the data is clear about the state of the economy, in which Timiraos said she made it clear she was talking about any number of points in the future and not just June.

GLOBAL NEWS

• Vancouver police announced that nine died and others more were injured after a man drove through a crowd at a Filipino festival on Saturday night.

GEOPOLITICAL

MIDDLE EAST

• Israel's Defence Minister said Israel conducted an attack on a site in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut which stored precision missiles.
• Qatar’s PM said he saw some progress in Thursday’s Gaza talks.
• Iran’s Foreign Minister Araqchi said the next round of nuclear talks with the US could occur next Saturday with the venue to be decided by Oman, while he added that both sides are showing seriousness and determination. Furthermore, a senior US official said the third round of nuclear talks with Iran were positive and productive with progress made on getting a deal but noted there is still much to do.
• Oman’s Foreign Minister said US-Iran talks will continue next week with a further high-level meeting provisionally scheduled for May 3rd and core principles, objectives and technical concerns were all addressed in US-Iran talks on Saturday.
• A huge explosion at a key Iranian port possibly linked to missile fuel killed at least 40 and injured around 800 others. It was separately reported that an Iranian Defence Ministry spokesperson said there was no military material in the port affected by the blast, while - Russia will send several planes to Iran to help extinguish the fire at Iran’s port.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

• US President Trump met with Ukrainian President Zelensky at the Vatican for 15 minutes which Zelensky’s staff said was constructive, covered a lot of ground and they agreed to meet again, while the White House said the meeting was very productive.
• US President Trump commented that there was no reason for Russian President Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns over the last few days which makes him think that Putin doesn’t want to stop the war and is just ‘tapping’ him along, while Trump added too many people are dying and this has to be dealt with differently through banking or secondary sanctions.
• US Secretary of State Rubio said Russia and Ukraine are generally closer to a peace deal than in the last three years and a peace deal needs to happen soon, while he added that the US has options to hold responsible those that don’t want a Ukraine peace deal, according to NBC.
• Russian President Putin confirmed Russia’s readiness to negotiate with Ukraine without preconditions during a meeting with US envoy Witkoff, according to IFAX.
• Russian President Putin said Kyiv’s adventure in the Kursk region completely failed and Chief of General Staff Gerasimov said Ukrainian saboteurs in Russia’s Belgorod region have been liquidated. Furthermore, Russia’s military commander told Russian President Putin that scattered remnants of Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region will be destroyed soon, according to RIA.
• Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said Russia will continue to target sites used by Ukraine’s military, foreign fighters and military instructors sent by Europe, while he added that Russia would be willing to store Iran’s enriched nuclear material if both the US and Iran believe that was useful.
• Ukrainian military said Moscow’s assertion it has ended Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region is not true and operations inside Kursk continue, while its forces are still on active operations in the Belgorod region.
• French President Macron said he had a very positive exchange with Ukrainian President Zelensky and that Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire, while the coalition of the willing will continue working on a ceasefire and lasting peace in Ukraine.
• German Defence Minister Pistorius said US demands for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia are going too far.

OTHER

• US President Trump said American military and commercial ships should be allowed to travel free of charge through the Panama and Suez Canals, while he asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of and memorialise this situation.
• China’s move to claim sovereignty over a disputed reef in the Spratly Islands by planting a flag triggered a stand-off with the Philippines in which the latter sent navy, coastguard and maritime police officers to Sandy Cay and two neighbouring sandbanks to uphold its sovereignty, rights and jurisdiction and displayed the national flag there, according to FT.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• PBoC injected CNY 90bln via 7-day reverse repos with the rate kept at 1.50% on Sunday.
• China will hold a press conference on Monday about policies and measures on stabilising employment, ensuring stable growth and promoting high-quality development, according to Bloomberg.
• Chinese President Xi said China will use various policies to support development, while he urges the healthy and orderly development of AI.
• China’s Finance Minister said China will adopt more proactive macroeconomic policies to promote the realisation of the growth target and that China is willing to further open up its super large markets to the world to achieve mutual benefits.
• China’s Cabinet passed the draft law of China’s medical security and will submit it to the NPC Standing Committee for deliberation, while it also approved the Sanmen nuclear power plant in Zhejiang province.
• China issued a notice on further improving tax refund policies for foreign tourists to boost inbound consumption and will promote the expansion of tax refund stores at shopping centres, scenic spots, airports and hotels.
• China’s top market regulator said regarding a media report of separating the Panama Port from the CK Hutchison (1 HK) deal, that they are paying close attention to the transaction and will review them in accordance with the law. Furthermore, the regulator said parties to the transaction must not use any means to avoid a review.
• TikTok owner ByteDance plans to enter online shopping in Japan as it seeks to expand outside of the US.
• Huawei approached some Chinese tech companies about testing the technical feasibility of the new chip called Ascend 910D, according to WSJ.
• Rumours were circulating in social media that DeepSeek’s R2 AI model is nearing release which is set to feature double the parameters of R1.

DATA RECAP

• Chinese Industrial Profits YTD YY (Mar) 0.8% (Prev. -0.3%)

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• BoE Governor Bailey and US Treasury Secretary Bessent held discussions on financial markets and the regulatory environment.
• ECB’s Centeno said uncertainty is dominating economic analysis which was largely being caused by US trade policy, according to Bloomberg.
• ECB’s Kazaks urged cautious steps and said the ECB should only lower interest rates into accommodative territory if the growth outlook continues to deteriorate much further, according to Bloomberg.
• ECB’s Simkus said the ECB may have to cut rates a couple of more times as US tariffs weigh on economic growth and as inflation continues to slow, according to Bloomberg.
• ECB governors reportedly see an increasing likelihood of a rate cut in June, while it was also reported that the central bank established a task force to simplify banking regulation.