One soft CPI print, and the equity markets are back in positive territory. It might not be as simple as this, but sentiment toward the Fed’s trajectory has temporarily changed. The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.29%.
Back to tariffs—Trump said the US would respond to the European Union’s countermeasures against his new 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, raising the risk of further escalation in his global trade war. Canada announced new 25% tariffs on about $20.8 billion of US-made products, including steel and aluminum, after the Trump administration went ahead with global levies on imports of the two materials.
In the rates world, Japanese government bond futures dropped to their lowest level since November 2009 after Ueda told the country’s parliament that he expects real wages and consumer spending to improve as import inflation subsides while robust wage gains continue.
Meanwhile, in US political news, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party would block a Republican spending bill to avert a government shutdown on Saturday and urged the GOP to accept a Democratic plan to provide funding through April 11 instead.
Marketwise: Bitcoin was little changed at $83,070.43, while Ether fell 1.4% to $1,864.88. The UK 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 4.72%, with Cable close to 1.30. Spot gold rose 0.1% to $2,939.10 an ounce, and West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $67.50 a barrel.
Datawise: We have Eurozone industrial production, US PPI, and US initial jobless claims.
