S&P 500 futures trade lower amid increased trade tension between the U.S. and China after U.S. administration moved to block the semiconductor shipments to Huawei, which might prompt retaliation from China.
On the data front, the U.S. Retail Sales came in at -16.4%, a big miss as the expectations were for -12% in April, the Retail Sales ex Autos came in at -17.2% also below the expectations of -8.6%. The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index dropped to -48.5 but beat the forecasts of -63.5 in May.
Earlier today, mixed economic data from China failed to impress investors, as the latest economic data shows that the recovery will not be fast for the countries that lift the lockdown. The Industrial Production in China came in at 3.9%, topping the forecasts of 1.5% in April, while the Retail Sales came in at -7.5%, below the forecasts of -7%, the March reading was at -15.8%. The fixed asset investment reading in China for April was -10.3%, while the forecasts were for -10%.
The Dow Jones futures are 1.02% lower at 23,295. The S&P 500 futures are 1.10% lower at 2,817 while the Nasdaq futures are 1.43% lower at 8,949.
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Germany GDP Contracted by -2.2% in Q1
European markets trading on the positive foot. The latest GDP data showed that the first quarter Germany GDP contracted by -2.2% in line with expectations. The reading for the fourth quarter of 2019 was at 0%. That was the sharpest quarterly drop since the first quarter of 2009. On the year, the German economy contracted by 2.3%.
The German Economy Ministry Economic said that the contraction would accelerate in the second quarter. The recession should have reached its low point in April. The Ministry sees a turnaround at the beginning of May. In other data released earlier today, the Germany Producer Price Index (PPI) came in at -0.7% below the consensus of -0.6% in April, the yearly reading came in at -1.9%, also below the expectations of -1.8%. Dax is 0.95% higher at 10,435, while the CAC40 is 0.03% higher at 4,274. France Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in at 0%, below the expectations of 0.1% in April, the yearly reading registered in at 0.4% below the expectations of 0.5%.
In commodities, the Brent crude oil price continues higher, adding 1.86% at $31.96 while the WTI June contract is 3.70% higher at 28.60 supported by prospects for a rise in physical crude oil demand.
In the forex market, EUR to GBP crawls higher on weak EU data and Brexit deadlock. The Japanese yen eerily calm as US and China tensions rise. EURUSD trades slightly higher, adding 0.20% at 1.0825.
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