A 5-Second Guide To What's Happening In Markets Today

As for markets, we're seeing big rallies everywhere, and a weakening yen.

Via Nomura, here's a quick summary of today's stories.

Global equities were stronger with the Hang Seng leading in Asia on strong business sentiment data, closing 2.3% higher, European equities opening 0.3-0.9% in the green and US equity futures retracing yesterday’s losses. Core bonds are generally weaker, with the 10yr Gilt, Treasury and Bund yields up 2-3bp, while the periphery was moderately stronger, with Spanish and Italian yields down 1-5bp across the curve. In FX, NZD led in the majors, while JPY trailed, down 1.1-1.8% across the board.

In an otherwise light day, the focus remains on Italy today as the second day of the presidential elections begins, with the third and likely fourth rounds of votes ahead. Following yesterday’s failed votes, our economists note that PD leader Bersani has indicated that his bloc will seek to elect either Romano Prodi or Massimo D’Alema, with the centre-right, which continues to support Franco Marini’s candidacy, appearing willing to consider the latter, but not the former. Our economist add that a winner is unlikely to emerge in the third round, with results due early this afternoon. A fourth round victory, which requires only a simple majority of support, is possible, but our economists stress that uncertainty remains high (see NEMO, 18 April 2013)MBTA