MARKET SNAPSHOT
U.S. stocks rallied following three days of losses. Treasury yields edged lower, with traders wary of taking bold positions ahead of Friday's PCE inflation data. Oil prices slipped as official U.S. data showed a smaller weekly rise in crude inventories than industry data had indicated. Gold continued to climb, reaching a record high. The dollar pared losses on perceived dovishness among global central banks.
MARKET WRAPS
EQUITIES
Major stock indexes rose, with the S&P 500 snapping a three-day slide to close at a record.
The S&P 500 rose 0.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.5% higher.
The S&P 500 is little changed on the week but heading for a spectacular first quarter, currently up 10% year-to-date.
"It's healthy that we're seeing the market move more or less sideways right now," said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. "If the broad market is just shooting higher all the time without pause, that's a runaway train."
Earlier Wednesday, Chinese shares ended lower, led by tech stocks, with the benchmark index falling below the psychologically important 3000 level. This week's focus will be on March PMI data, which is scheduled to be released over the weekend.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.3%, while the Shenzhen Composite Index and the ChiNext Price Index declined 2.8% each. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.4%.
The Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.9%, led by gains in real-estate stocks, as the yen briefly hit its weakest level in nearly 34 years.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5% after lower-than-expected inflation stoked optimism over central bank interest-rate cuts.
New Zealand's NZX-50 slipped 0.2%, giving back more of its week-opening gains, amid weakness in shares of real estate and financial companies.
COMMODITIES
Oil futures declined but settled off the session's lows after official U.S. data revealed a weekly increase in commercial crude inventories that was smaller than what was reported by an industry trade group.
West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery fell 0.3% to settle at $81.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude edged down 0.2% to settle at $86.09 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Given the holiday-shortened week and the upcoming end to the first quarter, Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors, said a "little weakness in the energy complex" isn't surprising.
Still, the weakness in oil prices is likely to be short-lived, said Zahir.
"With the upcoming summer driving season right around the corner and the instability still with us in the Middle East, along with the extension of supply cuts by OPEC, we do expect the energy complex to resume the upward trend we have seen in the past few weeks," he said.
Front month Comex gold for April (new front month) delivery gained 0.6% to settle at $2190.60 per troy ounce, a new record.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
Yen Hits 34-Year Low as Hopes for BOJ Rate Increases Fade
The Japanese yen hit its weakest level against the dollar in 34 years on waning expectations that the Bank of Japan would raise interest rates further after it dropped its negative interest rate policy last week.
The dollar briefly rose to as high as 151.97 yen, which had not been touched since July 1990, compared with Y151.55 as of Tuesday 5 p.m. Eastern Time. The U.S. currency was recently at Y151.77.
The yen was partly undermined by comments from BOJ board member Naoki Tamura on Wednesday that the central bank would cautiously unwind its easy monetary policy as a virtuous cycle of rising wages and prices is expected to continue.
Discover Financial CEO Michael Rhodes Resigns
Discover Financial Services said Michael Rhodes is resigning as chief executive and president of the company, shortly after taking over both positions.
Rhodes has been tapped as CEO of Ally Financial.
Discover named Rhodes as its CEO in December, succeeding former interim CEO John Owen, but his appointment and addition to the board became effective in February.
Amazon Invests an Additional $2.75 Billion in AI Startup Anthropic
Amazon.com said it has invested an additional $2.75 billion in the artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic, a major investment from a tech giant looking to compete with Microsoft, Google and others in the AI arms race.
Amazon has now invested a total of $4 billion in Anthropic after making a $1.25 billion initial investment in the company in September. The company said at the time that it could invest up to $4 billion. Amazon said it has a minority ownership position in Anthropic.
The funding marks Amazon's largest investment in another company since the online retailer was founded nearly 30 years ago. Google agreed last October to invest up to $2 billion in Anthropic.
S&P Global Cuts Paramount Credit Rating Into Junk Territory
S&P Global cut its credit rating on Paramount Global to BB-plus from BBB-minus Wednesday, or what is considered junk territory, citing continuing cord cutting and elevated investments required to support the buildout of streaming services.
"Paramount will need to execute its plan to substantially improve streaming losses over the next two years to mitigate further downside ratings pressure," S&P said, adding that Paramount's credit metrics are weak even for the BB-plus rating.
Fitch earlier this month cut its rating on Paramount to BBB-minus from BBB, while Moody's last year cut its rating on Paramount's senior debt to just above junk status.
Disney Settles With Ron DeSantis Over Florida Tax District
Walt Disney handed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a political victory Wednesday, agreeing to settle a long-running legal battle over control of the Orlando-area land that's home to its most important resort.
The company's truce with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the entity that oversees the resort's land and infrastructure, gives DeSantis more power and influence over the company's Florida operations. It also paves the way for Disney to expand its theme parks and resort properties in the state.
"Everything we've done has been in the best interest of the state of Florida," DeSantis said Wednesday. "We've been vindicated on all those actions."
Expected Major Events for Thursday
00:00/AUS: Mar Consumer Inflationary Expectations Survey
00:00/AUS: Jan Westpac-Melbourne Institute Indexes of Economic Activity
00:00/NZ: Mar ANZ Business Outlook
00:30/AUS: Feb Retail Trade
00:30/JPN: Feb Detailed Import & Export Statistics
00:30/AUS: Feb Job Vacancies
00:30/AUS: Feb Financial Aggregates, incl Private Sector Credit
02:00/SIN: Feb Bank Loans
02:00/SIN: Feb Money Supply
05:30/AUS: Feb International Reserves & Foreign Currency Liquidity
07:00/THA: Feb Industrial Production Index
08:15/HK: Feb Money Supply
09:59/HK: Feb Tourism figures
23:00/SKA: Feb Industrial Production Index
23:00/SKA: Feb Service Industry Activity Index
23:30/JPN: Mar CPI (Tokyo), CPI ex-Food (Tokyo)
23:30/JPN: Feb Labour Force Survey
23:50/JPN: Feb Preliminary Retail Sales
23:50/JPN: Feb Preliminary Industrial Production
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 27, 2024 17:05 ET (21:05 GMT)
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