- On Friday, technology companies led stock gains, as traders weighed mixed signals from the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations against volatility from expiring options. The price of oil stayed above $100 per barrel.
- The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 each experienced four days of increases, giving them their best weeks since November 2020, on hints that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was not something China wanted to see.
- During a highly anticipated two-hour video call on Friday, Chinese President Xi assured Biden that his country did not seek conflict in Ukraine. It was their first meeting since Russia's invasion last month. According to summaries published by the Chinese side, Xi informed Biden that the invasion "is not something we want to see," and that "the events again indicate that countries should not come to the point of meeting on the battlefield."
- In a quarterly event known as triple witching, the expiry of stocks and index options collided with that of index futures, causing a spike in equity transactions at the open. On Friday, an estimated $3.5 trillion in single-stock and index-level options will expire.
- For the first time since March 2020, the yield on the benchmark three-year treasury note surpassed the rate on the five-year security. It's the latest in a string of so-called curve inversions, in which shorter-dated yields outperform longer-dated yields, fuelled by expectations of tighter monetary policy. Some experts interpret inversions of some parts as trader wagers on the dangers of a recession or slower growth.
- Some holders of Russia's two Eurobonds with payments due this week reported they received payment in dollars, which came as a relief to investors who feared the country might default on its debt. By paying the bond coupons in dollars, Russia allays fears that it may default on its debt commitments following its invasion of Ukraine, which cut it off from global financial markets for the time being.
- To curb "raging" inflation, Fed's Waller believes the central bank should consider hiking interest rates by a half percentage point at next sessions and begin shrinking the balance sheet by July. His counterpart Fed's Bullard, said he dissented at this week's meeting because he wanted the US central bank to follow a balance-sheet reduction plan in addition to a half-point rate hike, and that he prefers hiking rates more aggressively this year than any of his colleagues. Fed's Kashkari, stated that the central bank should begin lowering its balance sheet as soon as the next meeting.
