• U.S. stock markets started the week relatively stables while in Europe the main indices registered small gains, with a good performance of the banking sector.
• In sovereign bonds markets, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury continued to rise and almost reached 3 percent while in Europe yields on long term bonds rebounded and spreads in peripheral countries declined slightly.
• In the U.S., the Markit manufacturing PMI unexpectedly increased in April and reached 56.5 points (March: 55.6 points) while for the Eurozone, the index decreased slightly to 56.0 points in April (March: 56.6 points) but it remained well into expansionary territory.
• In commodities market, Brent oil prices continued to increase and reached almost 75 dollars per barrel.