US markets declined in the month, with the Dow Jones down -4.0% and S&P500 down -8.8%, as high-growth stocks took a hit after Fed signalled it will reduce its massive bond holdings at a maximum pace of $95 billion a month, further tightening credit across the economy and Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he saw merit in the argument for front-loading interest-rate increases, including +50bps in May.
U.S. treasury yields were higher, with the 2-Yr yield at 2.72% and 10-Yr yield lower at 2.93%.
EUROPEAN MARKETS
European markets were mostly lower with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index down -1.2%, UK FTSE up +0.4% and German DAX down -2.2%.
ASIAN MARKETS
Asian markets were lower, with the Shanghai Composite declining -6.3%, as investors fretted over the economic fallout form new Covid-19 outbreaks in China and China’s Covid-Zero strategy. Nikkei was down -3.5% and KOSPI declined -2.3%.
COMMODITIES
Over the month, WTI oil price gained +6.3%, despite OPEC+ cutting forecast for global oil consumption in 2022 by 410l barrels a day, as traders continue to see a global supply deficit after IEA said OPEC+ members provided only 10% of their promised supply increases in March and OPEC+ lowered projections for supplies from outside the cartel by 330k barrels a day for the year, with Russia’s output now seen 530k barrels a day below previous estimates. Iron ore prices declined -8.5% and spot gold declined -2.1%.
