Stock Market Update

The S&P 500 futures currently trade nine points above fair value. 

Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region were mostly higher on Tuesday, with Japan's Nikkei (-0.2%) and China's Shanghai Composite (-0.9%) the notable exceptions. Markets generally drafted off the U.S. showing on Monday, while some, namely South Korea, saw a tailwind from NVIDIA's GTC updates. As expected, the Reserve Bank of Australia raised its cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.10%, but it was a close 5-4 vote. The Bank of Japan will be out with its rate decision on Thursday. It is expected to hold steady at 0.75%, yet there is some chatter that Japan could intervene to support the yen in conjunction with the BOJ decision. Separately, President Trump said the U.S. has asked China to delay his meeting with President Xi by a month or so because of his need to attend to the war with Iran.

• In economic data:
  • Japan's January Tertiary Industry Activity Index -9.2 (prior 8.0)
  • South Korea's February Export Price Index +10.7% yr/yr (prior +7.8%) and Import Price Index +1.2% y/yr (prior -0.9%)
  • Australia's ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence 68.5 (prior 73.4)

---Equity Markets---

• Japan's Nikkei: -0.2%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng: +0.1%
• China's Shanghai Composite: -0.9%
• India's Sensex: +0.7%
• South Korea's Kospi: +1.6%
• Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: +0.3%

Major European indices are trading higher despite oil prices reversing course and heading higher on Tuesday. WTI crude futures are up 3.0% to $96.30/bbl and Brent crude futures are up 2.8% to $103.03/bbl. The resilience of the equity markets is also notable given some ugly economic sentiment readings for the eurozone and Germany. The ECB will take that into account when it meets Thursday, although it is not expected to prompt a change in its key interest rates at this juncture.

• In economic data:
  • Eurozone's March ZEW Economic Sentiment -8.5 (expected 26.5; prior 39.4)
  • Germany's March ZEW Economic Sentiment -0.5 (expected 39.0; prior 58.3)
  • Switzerland's February PPI -0.3% m/m (expected 0.0%; prior -0.2%) and -2.7% yr/yr (prior -2.2%)
  • Italy's February CPI 0.7% m/m (expected 0.8%; prior 0.4%) and 1.5% yr/yr (expected 1.6%; prior 1.0%)

---Equity Markets---

• STOXX Europe 600: +0.6%
• Germany's DAX: +0.4%
• U.K.'s FTSE 100: +0.7%
• France's CAC 40: +0.7%
• Italy's FTSE MIB: +1.2%
• Spain's IBEX 35: +1.2%