Stock Market Update

The S&P 500 futures are down five points and are trading 0.1% below fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are down 16 points and are trading 0.1% below fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 21 points and are trading 0.1% below fair value.

Contracts linked to the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Dow Industrials are little changed.

It's a busy week of earnings news with Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) reporting results on Wednesday, and Apple (AAPL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) reporting results on Thursday.

There is no notable US economic data today.

In corporate news:

• Domino's Pizza (DPZ 478.00, -9.58, -1.96%): beats by $0.27, misses on revs.
• Merck's (MRK 82.84, +0.11, +0.13%) KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) as Perioperative Treatment With Standard of Care (SOC) Adjuvant Therapy Significantly Improved Event-Free Survival Compared to SOC Alone in Patients With Resectable Locally Advanced Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
• Apple (AAPL 209.91, +0.63, +0.30%) is breaking up its artificial intelligence team according to Bloomberg.
• NVIDIA (NVDA 109.29, -1.72, -1.55%): Huawei Technologies is developing a new artificial intelligence chip to challenge Nvidia according to the Wall Street Journal.

Reviewing overnight developments: 

• Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region started the week on a mostly higher note. Japan's Nikkei: +0.4%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng: UNCH, China's Shanghai Composite: -0.2%, India's Sensex: +1.3%, South Korea's Kospi: +0.1%, Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: +0.4%
  • In economic data:
    • China's March Industrial Profit 0.8% YTD (last -0.3%)
    • Hong Kong's March trade deficit $45.4 bln (last deficit of $36.3 bln). March Imports 16.6% m/m (last 11.8%) and March Exports 18.5% m/m (last 15.4%)
    • India's March Industrial Production 3.0% yr/yr (expected 3.3%; last 2.9%) and Manufacturing Production 3.0% m/m (last 2.9%)
    • Singapore's Q1 Unemployment Rate 2.1% (last 1.9%)
  • In news:
    • Multiple Chinese officials spoke about the need to support the country's domestic economy as National People's Congress Standing Committee began this week's meeting.
    • The People's Bank of China reassured that the reserve requirement ratio and interest rates will be lowered at the appropriate time.
    • China is reportedly looking to consolidate more than 200 of its semiconductor companies into ten big entities.
    • Australia's Labor party is leading ahead of next weekend's election, but ratings agencies have said that the party's spending plan will put the country's AAA credit rating in jeopardy.
• Major European indices trade in the green amid lingering hopes for easing global trade tensions and specific M&A news, such as Mediobanca's bid for Generali's wealth unit. STOXX Europe 600: +0.4%, Germany's DAX: +0.6%, U.K.'s FTSE 100: +0.2%, France's CAC 40: +0.7%, Italy's FTSE MIB: +0.3%, Spain's IBEX 35: +0.2%
  • In economic data:
    • U.K.'s April CBI Distributive Trades Survey -8 (expected -21; last -41)
    • Spain's March Retail Sales 3.6% yr/yr (last 3.6%) and Q1 Unemployment Rate 11.36% (expected 10.70%; last 10.61%)
  • In news:
    • Trading has been cautious ahead of a busy week for major corporate earnings and key economic data releases.
    • Uncertainty persists around US trade policy, with Treasury Secretary Bessent describing the administration's tariff approach as "strategic uncertainty," while French officials ruled out pushing for a broad EU-U.S. free trade deal in the short term.
    • European Central Bank policymaker Villeroy de Galhau stated that the central bank has room for further rate cuts as inflation nears target and suggested Europe could become an "anchor of stability" amid U.S. volatility.