Asia Morning SP Regains 3000

Asia Morning: S&P Regains 3000 Level

On Wednesday U.S. stocks advanced for a second day. For the first time since March 10, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+553 points or 2.2% to 25548) closed above 25000 and the S&P 500 (+44 points or 1.5% to 3036) above 3000.

Source: GAIN Capital, TradingView

The Nasdaq 100 added 52 points (+0.6%) to 9442.

Banks (+6.7%), Consumer Durables & Apparel (+3.92%) and Capital Goods (+3.83%) sectors performed the best.

Macy’s (M +19.61%), Gap (GPS +18.37%), Nordstrom (JWN +16.84%) and Kohls (KSS +14.54%) were top gainers. And travel-related stocks such as Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL +9.54%), American Airlines (AAL +7.54%) and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH +9.73%) also performed well.

Meanwhile, Twitter (TWTR -2.76%) closed lower while being in a dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump.

On the technical side, about 38.0% (33.6% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average, and 83.0% (66.3% in the prior session) were above their 20-day moving average.

The U.S. Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book economic report that economic activity declined in all districts, employment continued to decline and weak demand was weighing on selling prices. Although the Fed expressed high hopes for a swift recovery, it remarked that the outlook is still highly uncertain.

Later today, U.S. official data on first-quarter GDP (second reading, -4.8% on quarter annualized expected), Durable Goods Orders (preliminary reading, -19.3% on month in April expected), Initial Jobless Claims (2.1000 million for the week ended May 23 expected) will be released.

At the same time, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo officially reported to Congress that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China. This will surely help to heighten tensions between the U.S. and China.

European stocks were broadly higher, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.2%. Both Germany's DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 were up 1.3%, and France's CAC charged 1.8% higher.

Spot gold price edged down $1 to $1,709 an ounce posting a three-day decline.

Oil prices halted their recent rally after Russia hinted at increasing production by the end of June. U.S. WTI crude oil futures (July) sank 4.5% to $32.81 a barrel.

On the forex front, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index slipped 0.1% on day to 98.95.

EUR/USD climbed 0.3% to 1.1013. The European Commission proposed a 750 billion euros stimulus package to support its member states. Later today, the eurozone's Economic Confidence Index for May will be released (70.6 expected).

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