Bank calm, rates firm, Alibaba steals show
March 29 (Reuters) -A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan.
A semblance of calm has returned to world markets in the final week of the first quarter as the banking storm abates and the spotlight switched to a share-boosting six-way revamp of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Investors cheered the surprise move from Alibaba 9988.HK as a sign Beijing's corporate crackdown may be nearing an end, sending shares of the Jack Ma-founded firm and peers soaring.
The group's shares jumped as much as 16.3% in Hong Kong on Wednesday, tracking a 14.3% rally in its U.S.-listed shares overnight BABA.N and leading the benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI up more than 2%.
The fresh focus offered some distraction from weeks of banking stress, which appeared to ease this week as regulators in the United States and Europe closed ranks and insisted no systemic problems were detected as they investigated why the failures unfolded without action in the first place.
The KBW U.S. regional banking index .KRX was little changed on Tuesday, with shares of First Citizens BancShares FCNCA.O up another notch a day after their 50% surge on news it would acquire the deposits and loans of collapse Silicon Valley Bank.
The banking buzz in Europe on Wednesday surrounded a leadership change at UBS UBSG.S, whose stock climbed 2.2% after the Swiss bank rehired Sergio Ermotti as CEO to steer its massive takeover of failed rival Credit Suisse CSGN.S.
The surprise move seeks to take advantage of Ermotti's experience rebuilding the bank after the global financial crisis 15 years ago. European bank indexes .SX7P rose 1%.
With bank bosses in the frame, there was also interest in news that JPMorgan JPM.N CEO Jamie Dimon will be interviewed under oath in May in connection with the bank's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender and a former client.
Broader stock markets were higher across the board, with Wall St futures up almost 1% ahead of the open. The VIX index .VIX of implied stock volatility slipped back to its lowest level since March 9 - the day after the SVB shock emerged.
Interest rate markets assessed the easing of bank tensions and also the surprisingly resilient U.S. consumer confidence reading for March, a survey which straddled the quake in SVB and the related depositor nerves.
Two-year Treasury yields hit their highest level in a week at 4.12% early on Wednesday before slipping back. Futures markets now show a 50-50 chance of one more Fed rate hike in this cycle in May and half a point of easing by yearend.
The dollar .DXY was marginally higher.
Elsewhere, there was good news in the chip world. Germany's Infineon IFXGn.DE climbed 5.1% after the chipmaker raised its outlook for both its fiscal second quarter and the whole of 2023. The wider tech index .SX8P climbed 1.7% to lead sectoral gains.
The crypto world continued to look in trepidation at pressure on dominant exchange Binance.
After suing Binance this week, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Tuesday that activity at the crypto exchange was a pretty clear case of evasion and U.S. authorities needed to step in aggressively and as quickly as possible.
Key developments that may provide direction to U.S. markets later on Wednesday:
* U.S. Feb pending home sales
* U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr; European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel speaks; Bank of England policymaker Catherine Mann
* U.S. Treasury auctions 7-year notes
* U.S. corporate earnings: Cintas, Paychex
Alibaba's struggleshttps://tmsnrt.rs/3TRYiRH
US money market fund inflows highest since April 2020https://tmsnrt.rs/3KeTxPb
Failed US banks accumulated assets during pandemichttps://tmsnrt.rs/3TPwSMk
US consumer confidencehttps://tmsnrt.rs/40DGw76
By Mike Dolan; Editing by Bernadette Baum; mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com. Twitter: @reutersMikeD
Relaterade tillgångar
Senaste nytt
Ansvarsfriskrivning: XM Group-enheter tillhandahåller sin tjänst enbart för exekvering och tillgången till vår onlinehandelsplattform, som innebär att en person kan se och/eller använda tillgängligt innehåll på eller via webbplatsen, påverkar eller utökar inte detta, vilket inte heller varit avsikten. Denna tillgång och användning omfattas alltid av i) villkor, ii) riskvarningar och iii) fullständig ansvarsfriskrivning. Detta innehåll tillhandahålls därför uteslutande som allmän information. Var framför allt medveten om att innehållet på vår onlinehandelsplattform varken utgör en uppmaning eller ett erbjudande om att ingå några transaktioner på de finansiella marknaderna. Handel på alla finansiella marknader involverar en betydande risk för ditt kapital.
Allt material som publiceras på denna sida är enbart avsett för utbildnings- eller informationssyften och innehåller inte – och ska inte heller anses innehålla – rådgivning och rekommendationer om finansiella frågor, investeringsskatt eller handel, dokumentation av våra handelskurser eller ett erbjudande om, eller en uppmaning till, en transaktion i finansiella instrument eller oönskade finansiella erbjudanden som är riktade till dig.
Tredjepartsinnehåll, liksom innehåll framtaget av XM såsom synpunkter, nyheter, forskningsrön, analyser, kurser, andra uppgifter eller länkar till tredjepartssajter som återfinns på denna webbplats, tillhandahålls i befintligt skick, som allmän marknadskommentar, och utgör ingen investeringsrådgivning. I den mån som något innehåll tolkas som investeringsforskning måste det noteras och accepteras att innehållet varken har varit avsett som oberoende investeringsforskning eller har utarbetats i enlighet med de rättsliga kraven för att främja ett sådant syfte, och därför är att betrakta som marknadskommunikation enligt tillämpliga lagar och föreskrifter. Se till så att du har läst och förstått vårt meddelande om icke-oberoende investeringsforskning och riskvarning om ovannämnda information, som finns här.
