No Yen carry levitation overnight and, naturally, no Spoo levitation, with the futures struggling following the Nikkei’s -1.7% drubbing (pushing it back to nearly -10% on the year) and down well from Friday’s closing print. Risk averse sentiment following on from lower close on Wall Street on Friday, NASDAQ 100 (-2.7%) marked the worst session since 2011 dominated the price action in Asia, with JGBs up 32 ticks and the Nikkei 225 index (-1.7%). The Shanghai Composite was closed for a market holiday. Overall, stocks in Europe have recovered off lows but remain in negative territory (Eurostoxx50 -0.64%), with tech sector under performing in a continuation of sector weakness seen in the US and Asia, however Bunds remained under pressure as speculation of QE by ECB continued to undermine demand for core EU bonds. No major tier 1 releases scheduled for rest of the session, with focus likely turning to any policy related comments from ECB’s Weidmann, Constancio and Fed’s Bullard.
Bulletin headline summary from Bloomberg and RanSquawk
- Treasuries steady, 10Y yield holding just above 50-DMA at 2.711%, after weaker than forecast March jobs report damped concern about fed funds rate increases; 2Y and 3Y yields near lowest since March 19.
- Stocks are dropping around the world, with European shares snapping the longest rally since October, as investors sold technology shares
- Two weeks of selling in the Nasdaq 100 Index, where valuations are double the rest of the market, has sent anxiety among options traders to the highest levels since the flash crash four years ago
- Pro-Kremlin demonstrators seized administration buildings in Ukraine’s east and called for the regions to join Russia as the government in Kiev accused President Vladimir Putin of stoking separatist unrest
- As Putin completes Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Azerbaijain is feeling pressure to join a Moscow-led customs union, raising concern that his next move will be to shift his attention southward
- Dutch authorities are investigating the deaths of former ABN Amro Netherlands’s CEO Jan Peter Schmittmann, his wife and a daughter, whose bodies were discovered two days ago in their home after a possible homicide and suicide
- The University of Kentucky and its five freshmen starters are the pick of oddsmakers to cap a record-setting men’s college basketball tournament with the ninth championship in school history
- Sovereign yields mostly higher. Asian stocks mixed, Nikkei falls 1.6%, Shanghai +0.7%. European equity markets, U.S. stock futures fall. WTI crude and gold lower, copper little changed
