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Hello, I am Leonie Kidd writing to you from London. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
The so-called “truce trade” saw another day of gains in global equities, pushing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record highs, and also sending Japan’s Nikkei to new all-time highs.
And investors may have more reason for optimism today, as Israel and Lebanon look set to hold their first direct talks in more than 30 years.
But a word of warning from the World Bank, as the organization’s president told CNBC in an exclusive interview that there will still be months of economic disruption ahead.
What you need to know today
This has been a major risk to the ceasefire and future peace talks between the US and Iran. But President Donald Trump directly addressed the ongoing attacks on Lebanon by announcing that talks between Tel Aviv and Beirut will take place today.
in late night post true socialTrump said he was “trying to get a little breathing space between Israel and Lebanon,” citing the gap of more than three decades since the countries met.
On Wednesday, the president again stressed that the Iran war is “very close to being over,” with officials in Tehran eager to agree a peace deal.
America and Iran will probably return to Pakistan next week Second round of peace talkstwo senior Pakistani officials told MS Now on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Trump’s prediction that “the stock market will boom” appears to be coming true.
The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq hit new all-time highs and closed at new records. The broad market index rose 0.80%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.59%, marking its 11th consecutive gain. The blue-chip Dow reversed the trend, falling 72.27 points, or 0.15%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 hit a record on Thursday amid a broader rally in Asian markets led by technology and consumer cyclical stocks.
China’s economy accelerated in the first quarter as strong exports offset sluggish domestic consumption, although energy shocks stemming from the Iran war threaten to dampen global demand and curtail that momentum.
Gross domestic product expanded 5% in the three months to March, National Bureau of Statistics data showed on Thursday, accelerating from 4.5% in the previous quarter and exceeding economists’ forecast of 4.8% growth in a Reuters poll.
However, World Bank President Ajay Banga sounded a warning in his exclusive interview with CNBC that conflict-related disruptions will likely persist for months, even if the current shaky ceasefire holds and the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.
At the IMF-World Bank spring meeting in Washington, DC, ECB Governing Council members told CNBC they are taking a cautious approach to interest rate setting ahead of an upcoming policy meeting later this month.
– Leonie Kidd
