Financial Markets Daily Report20 April 2021
Investors started the week with a cautious mood as they wait for the release of this week's Q1 corporate results and the ECB monetary policy meeting.
- Investors started the week with a cautious mood as they wait for the release of this week's Q1 corporate results and the ECB monetary policy meeting.
- In this context, volatility measured with the VIX rose mildly, stock indices edged down in most advanced economies' trading floors and rose in China.
- In fixed-income markets, yields on sovereign bonds rose in the US and in the euro area (the German Bund traded above -0.25%, a level not seen since March 2020). Peripheral spreads nudged down in Spain and Portugal but rose in Italy on the day we knew that last week net purchases under PEPP stood at €16.3bn (€17.2bn in the previous week).
- Elsewhere, the US dollar weakened against most major currencies, the GBP strengthened and the euro traded above $1.20. In oil markets, the price of the barrel of Brent rose above $67.