Markets upbeat while US and European exchanges are closed for Good Friday - 18.4.2025

Senior Analytical Expert

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Todays’ Market Summary

The Dollar is little changed
US markets are closed today for Good Friday
Brent ended over 3% higher on Thursday.
Spot gold retraced down on Thursday:

Top daily news

Equity indexes are trading up currently after US stocks closed mixed on Thursday. Nvidia shares ended 2.87% lower underperforming market following 7% decline the prior day after disclosing that the company would take a $5.5 billion write-down in the first quarter due to the government ban on sales of its H20 chips made specifically for the Chinese market, Microsoft shares slumped 1.0% on Thursday after Morgan Stanley reduced its price target on Microsoft to $472 from $530, citing weakening demand and cautious investor sentiment.

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Forex news

Currency Pair	Change
EURUSD	+0.1%
GBPUSD	+0.1%
USDJPY	-0.1%
AUDUSD	-0.2%

The Dollar is little changed currently. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, added 0.15% on Thursday.

EUR/USD reversed its climbing while GBP/USD continued its advancing yesterday as the European Central Bank cut interest rates for the third time this year by 25 basis points. Both euro and Pound are higher against the dollar currently. USD/JPY reversed its sliding while AUD/USD slowed its climbing on Thursday with the yen higher against the Greenback currently and Australian dollar lower.

Stock Market news

Indices	Change
DJI	-1.1%
NIKKEI	+1.0%
HK50	+1.3%
AU200	+0.5%

US markets are closed today for Good Friday with the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes up at 4.333% currently. The three main stock benchmarks ended mixed on Thursday recording daily returns in the range from -1.33% to 0.13% as president Trump wrote on social media that the Federal Reserve’s chair Powell’s “termination... cannot come fast enough” after Powell said on Wednesday the Fed will continue its 'wait and see' approach before acting one way or the other while president Trump has numerous times criticized the central bank chair for not cutting interest rates.

European markets are closed today for Good Friday after stock indexes closed marginally lower on Thursday against the background of the third interest rates cut by the European Central Bank. Asian stock indexes futures are mostly rising today with Japan’s Nikkei leading gains while Chinese stocks ended little changed after Trump administration announced fees on Chinese-built ships docking at US ports.

Commodity Market news

Commodities	Change
#C-BRENT	+3.2%
OIL	+3.5%

Brent ended over 3% higher on Thursday. Prices got a boost from new sanctions imposed on Iran’s oil exports on Wednesday, including against a China-based "teapot" oil refinery. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose 3.5%. Brent futures added 3.2% to $67.96 a barrel on Thursday. For the week, both Brent and WTI gained about 5%, their first weekly gain in three weeks. Thursday was the last settlement day of the week ahead of the Easter holidays.