Squawk Box Europe Express

The S&P 500 records its worst session this month while short positions on U.S. shares hit their highest level in more than a year. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell tells the House Financial Services Committee that efforts to rein in inflation are far from over. The Bank of England faces pressure do the same after a shock inflation print sends two-year gilts surging to a 15-year high...

The recent U.S. equities rally runs out of steam as investors lock in profits and mull the rates forecast before Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies in front of Congress later this week. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt rules out offering government mortgage relief as he meets with bank chiefs to discuss spiralling repayments. Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son makes bullish comments about potenti...

China slashes two more key lending benchmarks for the first time in 10 months as the PBOC attempts to stimulate a stuttering economy. In a sign of potentially easing tensions between the U.S. and China, Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with President Xi Jinping in Beijing and calls for further dialogue. In tech news, Intel signs off on a €30bn chip manufacturing factory in Germany, making i...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in China and holds “candid and constructive” talks with his counterpart Wang Yi. It’s the first visit of an American cabinet-level official for five years. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs downgrades its FY GDP forecast for China. It quoted Beijing’s limited ability to boost stimulus. Asian equities start the week in the red as a result despite scoring their...

All three major U.S. indices hit historically high averages ending the session more than 1 per cent in the green. The BoJ sticks to its guns and maintains negative rates despite inflation moving higher. The Nikkei is up in afternoon trade while the yen drops against the dollar. In Frankfurt, ECB President Christine Lagarde hikes euro zone rates to a 22-year high. Lagarde said there was no sign tha...

The Fed makes a hawkish pause but Chairman Jerome Powell warns of two more rate rises later this year in a bid to balance market expectations. The rate decision pushes the S&P 500 and Nasdaq off 13-month highs while U.S. treasuries waver. Bond king Jeffrey Gundlach tells CNBC that the Fed strategy remains flawed and delayed. The PBOC cuts a key policy rate which sees the yuan fall to a six-mon...

U.S. inflation drops to its lowest level since in 2021 with investors anticipating a pause in rate hikes from the Fed. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq respond by hitting 13-month highs and U.S. Treasuries yields also rise on investor optimism the hiking cycle may be coming to a close. In the UK, stronger-than-expected jobs data push short-term gilt yields to levels not seen since last year’s chaoti...

The S&P 500 closes at its highest level since April 2022 as investors anticipate a Fed rate hike pause later this week. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan tells our U.S. colleagues that the central bank cannot yet signal the end of the tightening cycle. In China, the PBOC cuts a key short-term policy for the first time in 10 months as its post-Covid recovery stutters and crude prices are impac...

The S&P 500 enjoys its fourth straight week in the green ahead of this week’s Fed rate decision. The FOMC is expected to pause its hikes in order to assess ten consecutive interest rate increases. UBS completes its takeover of Credit Suisse marking a new historic chapter for the banking behemoth. In oil news, WTI slides below the pivotal $70-mark as demand concerns continue to grow. Saudi Arab...

China’s post-Covid recovery stutters as factory prices nosedive at their fastest pace in seven years. Risk of deflation prompt calls for more government stimulus. The S&P 500 is up by 20 per cent since its low in October, sparking talk of a potential new bull market. Crypto exchange Binance suspends all U.S. dollar deposits in the wake of its SEC lawsuit. SEC chair Gary Gensler has slammed the...

The Bank of Canada surprises markets by hiking rates, becoming the second global central bank to take a hawkish turn ahead of next week’s Fed meeting. U.S. Treasury Secretary tells CNBC exclusively that strong American employment will not prevent inflation from being reined in back to target. Crypto exchange Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong slams the SEC for moving to ring-fence the sector, saying t...

Chinese exports disappoint in May by a wide margin as weak domestic forecasts and global consumption concerns weigh. U.S. indices rally, however, with fresh record highs for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The VIX drops to its lowest intra-day level since before February 2020. The World Bank slashes its global growth forecast for next year, citing higher rates and tight credit conditions. Deputy C...

Apple launches Vision Pro – its first mixed-reality product since it first entered the wearable category almost a decade ago. In crypto news, the SEC sues the world’s biggest exchange, Binance, as well as its CEO Changpeng Zhao for breaking security rules in the U.S. The RBA unexpectedly hikes rates by 25bps, warning that a soft landing still remains elusive for the Australian economy. ECB Preside...

Oil prices lift following Saudi Arabia’s pledge to cut supply by a further 1m bpd from July onwards. Speaking exclusively to CNBC, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the move was a precautionary measure. Friday’s Dow Jones session was the strongest since January, moving 700 points on news of a strong U.S. jobs report and President Biden signing the debt agreement into law. We also hear fro...

The U.S. Senate votes to pass the debt ceiling agreement to send it onto President Biden to ratify, avoiding what would have been the first ever U.S. default. The news pushes Asian markets into the green. The Nikkei is now on course for its eighth consecutive week of gains while tech stocks lead the way on the Hang Seng in Hong Kong. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy puts pressure on NATO to...

The debt ceiling bill is approved by House Representatives, moving it onto the Senate. Hose Speaker Kevin McCarthy has warned Democrats he intends on making more cuts in coming years. Markets lower odds of a Fed rate hike in June after two officials say they are in favour of pausing this month. We are live in Moldova where 50 European leaders are meeting to discuss the war in Ukraine with Presiden...

The bill to raise the U.S. debt ceiling clears the first hurdle in the House Rules Committee and faces a House floor vote tonight. Chinese manufacturing contracts further, reaching a five-month low while the services sector activity hits its slowest pace in four months. Asian markets slump as a result. The Nasdaq manages to cross the 13,000-point mark for the first time since August 2022, buoyed b...

Following a battering for his PSOE party in regional and municipal elections, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calls a snap election for 23rd July. The U.S. debt ceiling agreement is due to face its first test today when it comes up against the House Rules Committee. President Biden says he is confident the bill will pass despite signs of resistance from some GOP lawmakers. Asia markets are mi...

U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hail a debt ceiling deal with a vote on the agreement set for later this week. Markets in Asia respond positively to the news with the Nikkei hitting a 30-year high while U.S. futures trade in the green with oil also up. In regional Spanish elections, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s PSOE party get thumped with the conservative People’s Party...

The White House and Republicans are reportedly inching towards a debt deal that will remain in place until past the 2024 elections. On Wall Street, the Nasdaq closes up 1.7 per cent, powered primarily by Nvidia shares. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo holds ‘candid and substantive’ talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Wengtao after months of tit-for-tat incidents and raised trade tensions...

Political wrangling over the debt ceiling continues in Washington D.C., prompting Fitch to place the U.S.’ AAA rating on negative watch. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy still manages to strike an optimistic note. There are differing opinions emerging at the Federal Reserve over the future rate path. The most recent FOMC meeting’s minutes show members now less certain that further hikes are needed. Ch...

Wall Street is in the red as the debt ceiling negotiations drag on, with the deadline just over a week away. Speaking at the CNBC CEO Council Summit, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon says that the chance of recession this year is worsening as inflation remains stickier than predicted. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel believes the ECB must hike several more times in its fight against inflation in...

President Biden says talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the White House have been productive as negotiators seek to strike a debt ceiling deal ahead of the 1 June deadline. Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari tells CNBC he is open to either hiking rates or skipping an increase next month but warned that investors should not expect a cut any time soon. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Di...

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy attends the G-7 summit in Hiroshima and laments the destruction of the city of Bakhmut which Russian forces claim to have taken over the weekend. U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are to meet at the White House to discuss stalled debt ceiling talks. Biden says the GOP must compromise over its “extreme positions”. China slaps trade res...

The G-7 summit kicks off in Hiroshima, Japan. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy will reportedly attend the meeting where Western leaders have vowed to harden their stance against Russia. In the U.S., there are signs an agreement on the debt ceiling could be reached with a vote as a early as next week to avoid a default ahead of the June 1st deadline. Wall Street indices are on track to...