1. The futures contracts fall to start the week
People walk along Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange on March 8, 2022 in New York City. Spencer Platt Getty Images US stock futures were slightly lower on Monday morning, as Wall Street appears to be recovering after a losing week. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite fell the most last week, falling nearly 3.9% as investors prepared for a more aggressive policy by the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 fell 1.27%, ending a three-week winning streak, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.28%. The Dow with 30 shares has now fallen for two consecutive weeks. Investors will receive two key data on inflation during this festive trading week. The consumer price index for March is scheduled to be announced on Tuesday, followed by the producer price index a day later. The last profit season is also about to begin, led by the big banks. JPMorgan is due to release results on Wednesday, with others, such as Goldman Sachs, following on Thursday.
2. Bond yields continue to rise. oil slides
Traders on the NYSE floor, March 25, 2022. Source: NYSE Bond yields rose on Monday morning, with the 10-year bond yield climbing 4 basis points to 2.76%. 5-year and 30-year interest rates remain reversed, something that happened in late March for the first time since 2006 and heightened fears of a possible recession. Bond yields, which are moving in the opposite direction of prices, have risen in the last month as investors prepare for a more aggressive Fed policy. Oil prices fell more than 4% on Monday, pushing West Texas Intermediate crude futures below $ 94 a barrel. The international Brent benchmark fell about 4.1% to around $ 98.50 a barrel. Crude oil has fallen in the past two weeks as the United States and other countries announced plans to release oil from their strategic reserves in a bid to offset a lost Russian supply. Covid lockdowns in China, which could weaken demand, have also weighed on oil prices.
3. Elon Musk is no longer a member of Twitter’s board
Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during a press conference at SpaceX’s Starbase facility near the village of Boca Chica in South Texas on February 10, 2022. Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images Shares of Twitter fell in preliminary trading on Monday, after CEO Parag Agrawal announced in a tweet on Sunday night that Elon Musk is no longer a member of the social network board. Title filings released last week revealed that Musk, CEO of Tesla and private rocket company SpaceX, had become Twitter’s largest single shareholder. Plans followed for Musk’s appointment to the Twitter board, sparking speculation about how the world’s richest man and more frequent Twitter would influence the company. Agrawal did not say if Musk offered specific reasons for not becoming Twitter’s director. While Agrawal warned of “distractions ahead”, the CEO said Twitter would “remain open” to Musk’s contribution.
4. Inflation in China exceeds estimates. Covid repression reaches Guangzhou
All 11 districts of Guangzhou City launched another round of mass testing for Covid late last week, with primary and secondary schools switching to online learning on Monday. Costfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images Inflation in China was higher than expected for March, as the world’s second-largest economy is experiencing its worst wave of Covid infections since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. Major Chinese stock indexes fell on Monday, the Shenzhen component and Shanghai composite with a fall of almost 3.7% and 2.6%, respectively. Stricter health restrictions are in place in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, which is heavily industrialized. The city is shifting elementary and high school classes to online instruction for at least a week, and residents are not allowed to leave Guangzhou without a “definite need,” the Associated Press reported. They must also show a negative Covid test within 48 hours to do so. Covid lockdowns in Shanghai, however, can relax in some residential areas without new cases during a two-week window, according to Reuters. China’s most populous city has a record number of new infections from Covid, but severe, weekly restrictions have made it difficult for some residents to get enough food and medicine.
5. Zelensky calls on South Korea for military aid, says “war is far from over”
Zelensky tells South Korean lawmakers that nearly 300 hospitals have been destroyed in Ukraine. Chung Sung-jun | AFP | Getty Images
