Asia

Perhaps heralding the numbers yesterday and last night, China’s Caixin manufacturing PMI confirmed the government’s official Markit data from the day before, with an incredible 10-point increase just across the border into expansionary territory. As the Shenzhen municipality bans the eating of dogs and cats, Chinese indexes are slightly up this morning, the Nikkei down 1.57% and the Hang Seng – about a half.

The Japanese government has announced tax reliefs for companies suffering from corona-sales drops

Europe

European indexes all closed in the red yesterday, led by the French CAC: -4.30%. The Euro added 15 pips over the session as manufacturing data for March shows signs of optimism – Britain, Spain, Switzerland and France exceeding expectations but nowhere near expansion.

Retail sales in Germany added 1.2% in February, where the Minister of Finance has called upon an EU bill of aid to the tune of €200 billion

Americas

Refusing to be impressed by large amounts of money, US equities lost about 4.4% across the board, yesterday. The dollar added 80 cents to the index despite mostly dismal data.

Employment, of course, is in contraction, as were both manufacturing indexes – ISM’s marker less bad than expected. And as markets plunge on expected jobless data later today – expected to reach an all-time high, Russia has sent medical aid to the US aboard a military aircraft.

“The U.S. labour market is in free-fall,” Oxford Economics’ chief U.S. economist Gregory Daco told Reuters. And yet, US banks are threatening to ignore the government’s small business rescue programme due to fears of liability.

Commodities

As oil continues bouncing along the $20 support-line, this morning shows what may be an optimistic rise towards a $22 target. The commodity cannot go much lower than cost, even though yesterday’s EIA inventories report shows a 13.8-million-barrel addition.

The US Energy Department has urged Russia and Saudi Arabia to quell their differences over crude production increases. And gold eased down into a consolidating 1598 overnight as it awaits today’s data.

Corporate

Disney yesterday announced the availability of its new streaming service in Dubai – the first in the Middle East. T-Mobile and Sprint has announced the completion of their $23 bn merger. And Elon Musk has prohibited the use of Zoom, after Reuters informed earlier this week of data breaches.

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