Overview:
Equities continue to recover even as deep economic contractions are reported. Yesterday, the US said Q1 contracted at an annualized pace of 4.8%, while the eurozone reported today that output fell 3.8% quarter-over-quarter in Q1. Hong Kong and South Korea were closed, but the rest of the Asia Pacific bourses rallied strongly with several, including Australia and India, rising more than 2%. European shares opened higher before stalling, and US shares are firm after the rose nearly 2.7% yesterday.
Benchmark bond yields are mostly lower, though Italian bonds are underperforming. The US Treasury yield is softer at 61 bp. The is mostly softer, though the Antipodean currencies are paring recent gains. Emerging market currencies are mostly higher, and the JP Morgan Emerging Market Currency Index is pushing higher after gaining more than 1% in each of the past two sessions. Even the has rallied after having been downgraded by S&P late yesterday to BB- (three notches…
