Source: Sharecast
"The White House may be pounding the table for rate cuts, but the Fed’s sitting tight—Jay Powell’s in full “watch-and-wait” mode while near-term inflation headlines refuse to fade," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.
"Bond desks have slashed May/June cut bets and, with hard data holding up, don’t pencil in easing until Q3 at the earliest. That said, the same growth headwinds building the case for a genuine pivot—soft consumer spending, the import binge catch-up ahead of tariffs and corporate capex headwinds—are still simmering under the surface."
As of 0634 GMT, futures tracking the FTSE 100 were edging up by 13 points to 8,612.0, while those for the US S&P 500 were off by 17.75 points to 5,654.0.
Gold futures meanwhile were rallying by 1.5% to $3,372.10/oz. on COMEX against the backdrop of a renewed heightening in tensions in the Middle East.
On tap for Tuesday is a stream of Purchasing Managers' Indices for services sector activity in euro area countries and the UK.
In the case of the UK, S&P Global's services PMI is forecast to have remained unchanged from the month before at 48.2.
Intertek goes shopping in South America
Intertek said it had agreed to acquire Brazil-based TESIS, a provider of building products testing and assurance services, for an undisclosed sum. The company on Tuesday said the deal represented an “attractive opportunity” to expand its building & construction quality assurance business into Brazil's construction industry, which is valued at $120bn and is forecast to grow at 4.8% per annum to 2033.
AstraZeneca announced on Tuesday that the European Commission has approved ‘Calquence’, or acalabrutinib, combined with bendamustine and rituximab, for previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) in adults ineligible for stem cell transplant. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the approval was based on phase three results from the ‘ECHO’ trial showing the combination reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 27% compared to chemoimmunotherapy alone, extending median progression-free survival to 66.4 months.