News from the markets

U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories grew less than projected by the American Petroleum Institute, and analysts noted the increase was lower than expected for the time of year. U.S. refinery utilization rates, which rose 0.9 percentage point last week, and the drop in the oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, by three to 621 also supported prices. The U.S. economy, meanwhile, grew faster than previously estimated in the fourth quarter.

Market participants are looking ahead to the "jobs week" for clues on the labor market. The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) is scheduled for Tuesday, followed by ADP's private employment report for March on Wednesday. The main event will be Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls data, with economists expecting an addition of 216K jobs in March. That would mark a deceleration from the 275K additions in February.

An appeals court in the United States has agreed to pause the collection of Donald Trump’s $454m civil fraud judgement, delivering a victory to the former US president and preventing authorities in New York from beginning to seize his assets. Trump — who had been facing the immediate seizure of some of his real estate assets — now has 10 days to post a smaller $175m bond.

Donald Trump’s social network went public on Tuesday and quickly achieved a valuation of almost $8bn, a gain of more than 15% on its initial public offering (IPO) value. Interestingly, its revenue during the first nine months of last year was just $3.3m from advertising, and it recorded a loss of $49m.

Boeing announced that President and CEO David Calhoun will step down at the end of the year. Board chairman Larry Kellner announced that he would not stand for reelection. Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, left the company immediately. Shares rose on news of the leadership changes, closing up 1.3% at $191.38 on Monday.

Reddit's stock experienced a significant decline, falling almost 25% in two days and finishing the week below its closing price on the first day of trading. This decline was influenced by a corporate disclosure revealing that CEO Steve Huffman and COO Jennifer Wong sold significant shares.

Xiaomi has officially launched into the EV market with the SU7, first revealed in late 2023. The company's shares rose 1.2% in Hong Kong on Thursday ahead of the price reveal. Following its launch, the SU7 experienced an overwhelming demand, with 88,898 orders placed within the first 24 hours, indicating a successful market entry for Xiaomi.

Turkey’s main opposition party has claimed victory in Istanbul and Ankara in local elections, inflicting the biggest defeat on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party in more than two decades. The nationwide local elections were seen by analysts and civilians as a gauge of both Erdogan’s support and the opposition’s durability.

Gold prices surged to a historic high on Monday, bolstered by a softer-than-expected U.S. inflation report, which reinforced expectations of an impending interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Spot gold saw a 1.39 percent increase to a record high of $2,260.89. Meanwhile, U.S. gold futures gained 1.97 percent to $2,282.55.

Chart of the Week

Low volatility is a good predictor of future higher volatility, and the cost of hedging is the lowest when you don’t need it.