WASHINGTON: The dollar was largely higher Tuesday as US President Joe Biden confirmed his bid to run for re-election in the upcoming year.
The announcement comes with the American economy still battered by interest-rate rises and high inflation, triggering concerns of a possible recession. Worries that the world economy could enter a crisis this year continued to weigh heavily on stock markets on Tuesday.
This week, traders have exited risk before earnings results from US tech behemoths Microsoft, Amazon, Google parent Alphabet, and Facebook owner Meta. Before that, General Motors on Tuesday raised important 2023 profit projections following a strong first quarter in which blowout results in North America compensated for drops in other regions.
The big US automaker recorded profits of 2.4 billion dollars, down 19% from the year-ago level. GM shares surged on the results.
Investors were also waiting on key economic data from the eurozone and Australia and a policy meeting of the Bank of Japan (BOJ).
SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes said that despite a reasonably positive picture on the economy front, getting a clean read on anything happening in the ongoing week was difficult.
The American calendar also includes readings on first-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP), an update on consumer confidence, and a possible vote in the long-running political deadlock over the US debt ceiling.
Net profit of 1.0 billion dollars
After recent shocks in the banking sector, UBS on Tuesday reported an underwhelming first-quarter net profit of 1.0 billion dollars but insisted it had seen solid client inflows as it prepared to take over its stricken rival Credit Suisse.
US lender First Republic Bank has recorded a more than 40 % drop in deposits in the first quarter of the year but added that the situation had stabilised since March.
Its shares fell more than 20% in after-hours trading Monday after the earnings report, its first since the dramatic failures of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank last month shone a spotlight on regional lenders and their vulnerabilities. –AFP
