Morning Call For Monday, April 2

Overnight Markets and News

June S&P 500 E-minis (ESM18 -0.47%) this morning are down -0.24% after China announced the implementation of its previously-announced tariffs on about $3 billion of U.S. goods in retaliation for U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs. Tech stocks remain on the defensive after President Trump over the weekend tweeted additional criticism of Amazon.com regarding its use of the U.S. Postal Service for deliveries. The markets are closed today for Easter Monday in UK, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and most of Europe. Asian stocks today closed mostly lower on continued trade tensions after China announced the implementation of its tariffs on U.S. products: Japan Nikkei -0.31%, China Shanghai -0.18%, Taiwan TAIEX -0.29%, Singapore Str. Times +0.08%, South Korea KOSPI 200 -0.19%, India BSE Sensex 30 +0.87%, Turkey ISE National 100 +0.09%.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.10%) is trading slightly lower by -0.059 points (-0.07%), while EUR/USD (^EURUSD +0.17%) is slightly higher by +0.0004 (+0.03%) and USD/JPY (^USDJPY +0.04%) is little changed. The yen was undercut by the slightly weaker-than-expected Tankan report, although there was a survey showing some improved public support for Japanese Prime Minister Abe. June 10-year T-note prices are down -4.5 ticks.

May WTI crude oil (CLK18 +0.40%) prices are up +0.29 (+0.45%) and May gasoline (RBK18 +0.32%) is up +0.0071 (+0.35%) on some carry-over support from last Thursday’s Baker Hughes report showing that the number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 7 rigs. Metals prices are higher this morning on the slightly weaker dollar with April gold up +8.1 (+0.61%), May silver up +0.187 (+1.15%), and May copper up +0.038 (+1.26%). Grain prices this morning are showing solid gains on continued support from last Thursday’s USDA Prospective Plantings report with May corn up 3.50 (+0.90%), May soybeans up +13.00 (+1.24%), and May wheat up +4.00 (+0.89%). May cotton is up 1.21 (+1.49%).

China on Sunday announced that its previously-announced tariffs on $3 billion worth of U.S. goods would take effect today. The tariffs on some 128 products were in response to President Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. Those products include fruit, nuts, wine, pork, certain steel products, and others. China has not yet announced any retaliation for President Trump’s tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese products for intellectual property violations.