Let's start with a review of last week. Wall Street shattered new records, with the S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 all reaching unchartered territory. US indices stalled at the end of the week, but not enough to prevent the S&P500 from posting a positive weekly score of around 1.50%. The Nasdaq's progress was more impressive, as the technology index gleaned more than 2% over the same period. At this rate, it could reach 20,000 points this summer. In Europe, trends are a little more confused. The broad index for the old continent, the Stoxx Europe 600, achieved a small breakthrough (+0.62%), but a breakthrough nonetheless for its reinvested dividend version. However, this masked a wide disparity in the performance of the European indices. The CAC (-0.63%) and DAX (-0.36%) were fairly weak, weighed down by their industrial stocks. Swiss stocks were the best performers. The SMi is up over 7% this month! Elsewhere in the world, Asian stock markets are also benefiting from the prevailing positive sentiment. This morning, the Nikkei broke back through the 39,000-point barrier, while the Hang Seng continued its recovery towards 20,000 points.

There’s a certain complacency across stock markets. The VIX, the famous fear index, remains very low, reflecting the absence of risk aversion. Investors are eagerly the results of Nvidia on Wednesday, which could become the next catalyst. Also on the focus of investors this week, the Fed minutes on Wednesday, the April PMIs in the US and Europe on Thursday, before durable goods orders and US consumer sentiment on Friday. At the same time, a series of speeches by central bankers will keep investors busy as they await the decisions to be taken by the Fed and ECB on June 12 and 6 respectively. Fed Vice Chair of Supervision Michael Barr and Governor Christopher Waller are speaking today, along with Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson.

Elsewhere in the news Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi and his Foreign Minister died in a helicopter crash. China's central bank keeps preferential lending rates stable. Beijing implemented a set of supportive measures for the economy, including the property market last week, and there are rumors that more is to come imminently.

Chinese stock markets started the week in the green. The Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng are up by around 0.60%. The Nikkei225 continued its upward march, gaining 0.7%. Gains were also made elsewhere in the region, with Mumbai gaining 0.4%, Seoul up 0.5% and Australia's ASX gleaning 0.6%. In Europe, indices are up, while Wall Street Futures are near zero.

Today's economic highlights:

The dollar is worth EUR 0.9210 and GBP 0.7877. The ounce of gold reached a record high of USD 2440 and retreated slightly to USD 2412. Oil remains firm, with North Sea Brent at USD 83.5 a barrel and US light crude WTI at USD 79.16. The yield on 10-year US debt reached 4.416%. Bitcoin is trading at around USD 67,000.

In corporate news:

  • Apple has launched an aggressive promotional campaign in China, offering discounts of up to 2,300 yuan ($318 or around 292 euros) on certain iPhone models, as the Apple group faces competition from local players at the top end of the market, notably Huawei.
  • Microsoft plans to unveil new consumer products on Monday, at an event on its Redmond, Washington campus. The group is expected to announce a new version of its Surface Pro tablet and Surface Laptop laptop, which are equipped with Qualcomm chips based on an architecture developed by Arm Holdings.
  • Tesla is attempting to appease the anger of certain car rental companies in Europe, whose repeated price cuts for its electric vehicles have caused the value of their fleets to plummet, while these professional customers were already complaining about the slowness of its service and the cost of its repairs. According to a Reuters survey, Tesla will therefore agree to price cuts on the purchase of certain vehicles, and intends to improve the quality of its services.
  •  Mining stocks with exposure to gold climb as the yellow metal hits a record high. Newmont, Barrick Gold, Gold Fields, AngloGold Ashanti Harmony Gold, Agnico Eagle Mines and Kinross Gold were up from 1.4% to 3.6% before the opening.
  • The U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) and two other regulators may significantly reduce certain prudential ratios imposed on the country's major banks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
  • JPMorgan Chase announced at an investor presentation on Monday that it was targeting net interest income of $91 billion this year.
  • Paramount - Apollo Global Management and Sony Pictures Entertainment have signed confidentiality agreements that will allow them to review Paramount's financial statements prior to a potential offer, The New York Times reported Friday. However, the two companies have abandoned their original plan to make a $26 billion cash offer for Paramount. Paramount shares are up 3% in pre-market trading.
  • Johnson Controls International - Activist investor Elliott Investment Management has built up a position of over $1 billion in the group, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. Johnson Controls International shares gained 4.6% in premarket trading.
  • Novavax shares gained 1.7% in premarket trading, as hedge fund Shah Capital announced it was abandoning its campaign against the re-election of three directors to the pharmaceutical company's board.
  • Alphabet announced on Monday its intention to invest a further €1 billion in the expansion of its data center campus in Finland, in order to boost the growth of its artificial intelligence (AI) business in Europe.
  • Instructure - Private equity firm Thoma Bravo is considering selling its 83% stake in the $3 billion educational software provider.
  • Didi Global - Jean Liu, co-founder of the Chinese ride-sharing services group, has resigned as president and board member to become a “permanent partner”, according to an internal company memo.

Analyst recommendations:

  • Datadog, Inc.: Baptista Research downgrades to outperform from hold with a price target reduced from USD 148.50 to USD 146.50.
  • Micron Technology, Inc.: Morgan Stanley upgrades to equalwt from underwt with a price target raised from USD 98 to USD 130.
  • Teradyne Inc.: Goldman Sachs upgrades to buy from neutral with a price target raised from USD 118 to USD 161.
  • Constellation Energy Corporation: KeyBanc Capital Markets maintains its overweight recommendation and raises the target price from USD 190 to USD 230.
  • Dell Technologies Inc.: Bernstein maintains its outperform recommendation and raises the target price from USD 120 to USD 155. JP Morgan maintains its overweight recommendation and raises the target price from USD 125 to USD 155.
  • Nvidia Corporation: Barclays maintains its overweight recommendation and raises the target price from USD 850 to USD 1100.
  • Globalfoundries, Inc.: Baptista Research downgrades to hold from outperform with a price target reduced from USD 64.40 to USD 60.40.
  • Texas Instruments Incorporated: Barclays maintains its equalweight recommendation and raises the target price from USD 150 to USD 190.
  • Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc: HSBC upgrades to buy from hold with a target price of GBP 1.80.
  • Keywords Studios Plc: Shore Capital downgrades to hold from buy.
  • Rio Tinto Plc: Citi downgrades to neutral from buy with a target price of GBP 60.
  • Shaftesbury Capi: Stifel upgrades to buy from dropped coverage with a price target reduced from GBX 185 to GBX 175.
  • Spectris Plc: HSBC upgrades to buy from hold with a target price of GBP 38.