European Futures Decline as Focus Turns to Nvidia: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — European stock futures declined along with Asian equities as investors shift their focus to Nvidia Corp. earnings out later in the week.

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Contracts for the Euro Stoxx 50 fell, while US futures were mixed. Futures on 10-year US Treasuries steadied while gold and copper changed hands near their all-time highs and wheat prices surged. The Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index reached its highest level since January 2023 on Monday.

Asian shares took a breather on Tuesday after seven days of gains, with Li Auto Inc. leading losses in the MSCI Asia Pacific index after the company’s first-quarter vehicle sales missed estimates. Stocks in Australia and Japan also dipped. Most of the region’s currencies slipped against the dollar.

“There’s not much on the calendar this week before FOMC minutes and Nvidia,” said Kyle Rodda, a strategist at Capital.com. “Positioning for those events may set the tone for the next few days.”

Traders’ focus is turning to Nvidia — one of the top companies powering the artificial-intelligence frenzy — and what the company’s earnings on Wednesday say about growth in the sector.

In Asia, China’s economic struggles remain in the spotlight, with fresh data showing there’s little sign of a turnaround in its debt-plagued property sector. Local governments reaped the least revenue in eight years through land sales last month, showing the fiscal strains faced by those authorities who depend on such revenue for a large chunk of their total income.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index inched higher as investors continue to eye the cautious mood from Federal Reserve officials. Speaking overnight, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester joined the ranks of US policy makers suggesting less scope for interest rate cuts than previously expected.

“In quiet markets it’s all about carry and if any Asian currencies have any real decent yield on offer vs. the USD,” said Richard Franulovich, head of FX strategy at Westpac Banking Corp. “The USD has some room to catch up with the reversal higher in US yields in recent days — it’s easy to see why the USD might have been ready to rebound.”

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Marko Kolanovic held firm in his gloomy outlook on equities, urging clients not to buy stocks. That came after Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson capitulated on his pessimistic stock view, leaving Kolanovic as the last prominent bear among Wall Street’s megabanks.

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Elsewhere, Australia’s central bank resumed a discussion of interest-rate hikes at its May policy meeting before deciding that the case to stand pat was stronger as it aims to avoid “excessive fine tuning.” The Aussie fell as much as 0.3% versus the dollar before paring losses.

In corporate news, Samsung Electronics Co. is replacing the head of its semiconductor arm, appointing a longtime memory chip veteran to spearhead efforts to catch up with SK Hynix Inc. in the booming AI arena.

Crypto prices surged on signs of momentum toward US approval of exchange-traded funds investing directly in second-largest token Ether, a shift from a more downbeat outlook as recently as last week.

Key events this week:

• Fed’s Thomas Barkin, Christopher Waller, John Williams, Raphael Bostic, Susan Collins, Loretta Mester speak, Tuesday

• US existing home sales, Wednesday

• Fed minutes, Wednesday

• Nvidia earnings, Wednesday

• Eurozone S&P Global Services PMI, S&P Global Manufacturing PMI, consumer confidence, Thursday

• G-7 finance meeting in Stresa, Italy, May 23-25

• US new home sales, initial jobless claims, Thursday

• Fed’s Raphael Bostic speaks, Thursday

• US durable goods, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

• Fed’s Christopher Waller speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 6:50 a.m. London time

• Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed

• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed

• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.7%

• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.7%

• S&P 500 futures were little changed

• Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) fell 0.2%

• Japan’s Topix fell 0.2%

• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2%

• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.9%

• The Shanghai Composite fell 0.4%

• Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.3%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro was little changed at $1.0859

• The Japanese yen was little changed at 156.32 per dollar

• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.2431 per dollar

• The British pound was little changed at $1.2709

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 2.3% to $71,124.82

• Ether rose 4.2% to $3,647.58

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.44%

• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.53%

• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 4.17%

• Australia’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.26%

Commodities

• Spot gold fell 0.4% to $2,415.18 an ounce

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.7% to $79.22 a barrel

• Spot gold fell 0.4% to $2,415.19 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Rita Nazareth, Jason Scott and Tania Chen.

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