Europe stocks open lower
Stoxx 600 index.
Europe’s stock markets opened lower on Friday, with the regional Stoxx 600 index down 0.74% in early deals.
Germany’s DAX fell 0.9%, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 were down by 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.
— Jenni Reid
UK retail sales down 2.3% in April
Shoppers and visitors on London’s Oxford Street brave the bad weather using Union Flag umbrellas on 6th May 2024.
Mike Kemp | In Pictures | Getty Images
U.K. retail sales volumes dropped 2.3% in April as wet weather deterred shoppers, the Office for National Statistics said Friday.
Economists polled by Reuters expected a smaller fall of 0.4%.
“Sales volumes fell across most sectors, with clothing retailers, sports equipment, games and toys stores, and furniture stores doing badly as poor weather reduced footfall,” the ONS said.
March’s figure was revised from flat to a 0.2% decline.
— Jenni Reid
European stocks set to open lower
European stocks are set to open in the red on Friday as they remain on track for a losing week.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was last seen opening 0.82% lower at 8,277 points, according to IG data. France’s CAC 40 was seen down 0.38% at 8,069, with Germany’s DAX down 0.5% at 18,598.
— Jenni Reid
CNBC Pro: CIO shares Nvidia alternatives to cash in on the AI theme: ‘There’s another way to play this’
Nvidia delivered once again, with its results proving it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
The chipmaker’s shares jumped in extended trading but given the “blowout earnings,” Nancy Tengler of Laffer Tengler Investments said she expected to see a higher move.
“I think a lot of that has been priced in and now you’ll see it trickle out as it has been into other players in in this space,” the chief investment officer told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday.
“We think there’s another way to play this,” she said.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
Coinbase jumps after hours as SEC opens the door to ether ETFs
Coinbase advanced 5% in extended trading after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule change that would pave the way for ETFs that buy and hold ether. Robinhood gained 2%.
While both companies offer cryptocurrency trading, Coinbase could stand to benefit more from the introduction of ether ETFs as it offers a slew of other crypto services, including custody and staking, as well as a larger selection of tradeable assets. Coinbase also operates a blockchain, called Base, that’s built on the Ethereum network.
The price of ether rose just 2% Thursday evening. Earlier in the week it rallied more than 20% over two days on investor optimism around the SEC’s decision, and it’s now on pace for its best week in more than a year.
Read more about how ether ETFs could benefit Coinbase on CNBC Pro.
— Tanaya Macheel, Jesse Pound
Market pricing now points to just one rate cut this year
Traders are lowering their expectations — again — for how many times the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates this year, and moving the outlook for the first cut still later.
A day after minutes from the last Fed meeting affirmed that policymakers are worried over inflation and not in a hurry to cut, traders in the fed funds futures market reduced their outlook to just one reduction in 2024. The probability of just a single cut jumped to nearly 58%, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. Earlier this week the market was looking for two reductions.
At the same time, the first move lower is not expected to happen until at least September and more likely November. At the beginning of the year, traders were pricing in at least six cuts starting in March. The probability for a September cut fell to 51% Thursday afternoon.
—Jeff Cox
Geopolitical concerns will weigh more on markets
As the first-quarter earnings season winds down, investors will shift more of their attention to geopolitical concerns in the next few months before the next round of earnings, according to SimCorp.
“The Fed has been pretty clear that they’re not going to cut rates, so you don’t have this, ‘Will they or won’t they’ [scenario] keeping everybody on edge. We are going to start to see a turn to some of this geopolitical stuff, whether it’s its elections or the two ongoing wars,” said Melissa Brown, managing director of applied research.
While events such as the U.S. and UK elections don’t necessarily result in economic impacts, they do increase uncertainty, Brown noted.
“People may go from saying ‘I’m just going to buy now,’ to, ‘Look, I’m gonna wait and see the outcome of this before I decide to commit more money to market,'” Brown said.
— Hakyung Kim