Curve Remains Inverted as Earnings Season Approaches

Curve steepens, but 2s10s remains below 0%. The yield curve steepened modestly today but 2s10s remained inverted into the close at -0.03%.  Overall, it was a quiet day as investors await the start of corporate earnings and the Fed’s meeting minutes release. Equities ended the day broadly higher, led by the Nasdaq Composite which rose 1.90%.

Allegations of war crimes by Russia reinvigorate calls for Russia oil ban. During today’s trading session, Brent crude rose by over 3% to $107.53/barrel, while US WTI crude rose by 4% to $103.28/barrel. Just last week, President Biden pledged to release 180 million barrels from the US stockpile, which had eased concerns of tight supply and had pulled crude prices down by 13%.

Shanghai extends COVID lockdown by another 10 days. The city will begin testing all of its 26 million residents and will wait to review results before officially lifting lockdown restrictions. The government dispatched over 10,000 healthcare workers, of which 2,000 were from the military, to carry out the city-wide testing after the city recorded over 13,000 new cases today. The surge marks the largest spike in virus cases since the start of the pandemic.