• Wall Street equities closed with notable gains on May 15, with the DJI rose by +0.88%, the S&P 500 surged by +1.17%, and the Nasdaq closed up by +1.40%.
• US stock indexes soared on Wednesday, with the S&P 500, the DJI, and Nasdaq 100 hitting record levels. The stock rally was propelled by a decrease in bond yields after US consumer prices eased as expected. Additionally, below-forecast results in retail sales, Empire manufacturing, and the NAHB housing index supported the outlook for Fed interest rate cuts this year.
• The 10-yr UST yields plunged by -9.0 bps to 4.36% on Wednesday, hitting a one-month low, while 2-yr yields tumbled by -8.0 bps to 4.73%. UST’s declined following softer inflation and retail trade data, giving the Fed flexibility to consider multiple rate cuts this year.
• The US April CPI eased by +3.4% YoY in Apr-2024 (vs 3.5% YoY in Mar-2024), reflecting a MoM growth of +0.3% (vs +0.4% MoM in Mar-2024). Meanwhile, the core CPI ex-food and energy also eased by +3.6% YoY (vs 3.8% YoY in Mar-2024), reflecting a MoM growth of +0.3% (vs 0.4% MoM in Mar-2024).
• In April 2024, US retail sales were flat after a revised +0.6% rise in March, missing the expected +0.4% increase. The US May Empire manufacturing index fell unexpectedly by -1.3 to -15.6, below the -10.0 forecast.
• In Euro, The European Commission maintained its forecast for Eurozone 2024 GDP growth at +0.8%, unchanged from the February estimate, while revising down its inflation forecast to 2.5% from the previous 2.7% estimate.
• Global bond yields were mixed on Wednesday, the German bund yield fell by -12.5 bps to 2.42%, while the 10-yr UK gilts yield closed down by -10.8 bps to 4.06%. The Japanese 10-yr JGB yield closed up by +0.30 bps 0.96%.
