US stocks were mostly higher and Treasuries selling continued ahead of central bank announcements - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

US stocks were mostly positive in a relatively quiet newsflow session from a macro perspective with the Nasdaq leading the charge ahead of the Nvidia (NVDA) GTC event after the close, while there was additional bullish momentum behind big tech stocks after Bloomberg reported Apple (AAPL) is to integrate Google's (GOOGL) Gemini AI app. The major US indices finished in the green, while the Russell 2000 small cap index was hit and Treasuries continued to tumble with little catalysts ahead of the BoJ and FOMC.
USD edged higher but with gains limited in quiet trade ahead of key central bank announcements and EUR marginally softened after failing to sustain a brief reclaim of the 1.0900 handle.
BoJ is set to end yield curve control, ETF purchases and NIRP on Tuesday, according to Nikkei sources.
Looking ahead, highlights include BoJ & RBA Policy Decisions & Press Conferences.

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US TRADE

US stocks were mostly positive in a relatively quiet newsflow session from a macro perspective with the Nasdaq leading the charge ahead of the Nvidia (NVDA) GTC event after the close, while there was additional bullish momentum behind big tech stocks after Bloomberg reported Apple (AAPL) is to integrate Google's (GOOGL) Gemini AI app. The major US indices finished in the green, while the Russell 2000 small cap index was hit and Treasuries continued to tumble with little catalysts ahead of the BoJ and FOMC.
SPX +0.63% at 5,149, NDX +0.99% at 17,985, DJI +0.20% at 38,790, RUT -0.72% at 2,025.
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NOTABLE HEADLINES

Punchbowl's Sherman commented that the Congressional leadership does not expect to release the text of the funding deal today and they still haven't resolved a dispute over DHS funding for the remainder of FY2024 which makes a weekend funding lapse more likely.
US Supreme Court justices appear sceptical of a challenge to the Biden administration’s contacts with social media companies on content moderation.

DATA RECAP

USD edged higher but with gains limited in quiet trade ahead of key central bank announcements.
EUR marginally softened after failing to sustain a brief reclaim of the 1.0900 handle.
GBP was contained amid a lack of pertinent catalysts and as participants await upcoming events.
JPY was ultimately flat against the dollar and only briefly benefitted after the latest source report from Nikkei which noted the BoJ is set to end NIRP, YCC and ETF purchases in its upcoming decision.

Treasuries continued to tumble amid gains in stocks and with little catalysts ahead of BoJ and FOMC.

Oil prices rallied with strong Chinese activity data providing the latest push to new multi-month highs.
Saudi Aramco CEO said peak oil and gas is unlikely anytime soon and that global oil demand is to hit a record in H2 2024, while he added that the current transition strategy overlooks consumers, according to Bloomberg.
Iraqi Oil Minister said the country is committed to voluntary cuts agreed within the OPEC+ group and will reduce crude exports to 3.3mln in the coming months to absorb any increases in January and February.
US Energy Secretary Granholm said US SPR stocks at year-end will be at or exceed the levels they would have been absent the sales and that the US pause on LNG export permits is temporary and for study purposes which should not impact major decisions globally, while Granholm added that the US LNG permitting pause will be long behind them by this time next year.
Russian oil exports from its Western ports were revised up in March by 10% to 2.15mln BPD amid unplanned refinery outages and Russia will further increase oil exports amid recent drone attacks on its refineries, according to Reuters citing sources.
ADNOC launched an index tracking the performance of rolling futures on Murban crude oil.

MIDDLE EAST

Israeli official said they will offer in Qatar a truce for 6 weeks in exchange for the release of 40 detainees, while the official estimated that negotiations could take at least two weeks, according to Reuters.
White House said US President Biden and Israeli PM Netanyahu spoke on the phone and discussed efforts to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Furthermore, Israeli PM Netanyahu said he spoke with Biden about achieving goals in the Gaza war while providing needed humanitarian aid.
White House's Sullivan said a deal for a ceasefire has been more elusive than what the US had hoped and more pressure needs to be applied to Hamas to end the conflict, while he believes a ceasefire deal is possible.
US official said Houthis are unable to continue escalation and that the US can always escalate against the Houthis, while the official added that the Houthis are making drones, conducting marches and are being assisted by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Houthi media reported six US-British raids near Hodeidah, Yemen, according to Al Arabiya.

OTHER

Kremlin commented on taking more of Ukraine to create a "buffer zone" in which it stated that they need to secure their territories so they are out of range.
EU Foreign Ministers announced sanctions against individuals and institutions in relation to Navalny's death. It was later reported that the EU drafted a law to send Russian Central Bank profits to Ukraine, while the plan could raise EUR 3bln/year for Ukraine and the EU aims to get the funds to Ukraine as soon as July, according to Bloomberg.
US and Japan collaborate to warn against nuclear weapons in space.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

China-EU competition policy dialogue, fair competition review and state aid control mechanism talks were held in Beijing on March 18th, while China is willing to deepen exchanges and cooperation with EU in the field of competition and promote the expansion of two-way trade and investment, according to the Chinese market regulator.
EU is reportedly mulling joining the US in reviewing risks of Chinese legacy chips and is flagging potential risks to national security and supply chains, while the EU mulls investigating how deeply Chinese chips are embedded across industry networks with the investigation mirroring US efforts, according to Bloomberg sources.
White House officials are to brief wary senators on the TikTok sale push, according to Bloomberg. It was later reported that US Senators will host a classified briefing on Wednesday with Biden admin national security officials regarding the threats posed by TikTok, according to Reuters citing a congressional aide.
BoJ is set to end yield curve control, ETF purchases and NIRP on Tuesday, according to Nikkei sources.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

DATA RECAP