• Wall Street equities closed with gains on May 3, as the DJI surged by +1.18%, the S&P 500 rose by +1.26%, and the Nasdaq jumped by +1.99%.
• US stocks strode higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 reaching 2-1/2 week highs and the DJI hitting a 3-1/2 week high. The market opened on a positive note, buoyed by strong earnings from Apple, which soared more than +6%, fueling optimism about the earnings potential of major technology firms.
• US Treasury 10-yr yields fell by -8.0 bps to 4.50%, while 2-yr yields decreased by -6.0 bps to 4.81%. Bond yields dropped following Friday’s lackluster US job report, fueling expectations of potential Fed rate cuts later this year.
• US April nonfarm payrolls rose by +175,000, below the expected +240,000, marking the smallest increase in six months. The unemployment rate unexpectedly rose by +0.1 to 3.9%, weaker than the anticipated of no change at 3.8%.
• The US April ISM services index unexpectedly dropped to 49.4, marking its sharpest contraction in 16 months. This missed expectations of 52.0 and signaled the first downturn in services sector activity since Dec-22. Conversely, the ISM services prices paid sub-index rose to 59.2, surpassing expectations of 55.0.
• In Europe, the unemployment rate in the Euro Area remained at a record low of 6.5% in Mar-24, unchanged from the preceding three months and consistent with market forecasts.
• Global bond yields were mixed on Friday, The German bund yield fell by -4.6 bps to 2.49%, while the UK 10-yr gilt yield dropped by -6.4 bps to 4.22%. The Japanese 10-yr JGB yield remained unchanged at 0.90%.
