Compared to a few weeks ago, the bull market that we have experienced since the start of the year may be beginning to slow, at least according to some analysis. Dividend stocks appear to be coming back into style as recovery from years of turbulence stabilises profits. Adding to that, the lowering of interest rates means stocks are looking strong going into the rest of the year. The upcoming few weeks are huge for the big banks, with the likes of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs releasing their earnings and with interest rates being held showing strong indications of bank performance, as we have seen over the past year of high interest rates.

Index performance

FTSE 100: -0.07%

FTSE 250: 0.58%

CAC 40: -1.05%

DAX: -0.17%

SSE: 1.42%

Hang Seng: 1.52%

Nikkei: -3.5%

ASX 200: -0.09%

Dow Jones: -1.04%

NASDAQ: -0.58%

S&P 500: -0.27%

Events

Commodities are showing good returns as people still weary of the world’s current state look to put their capital in a’safe’ investment.

Wheat, corn, and soybeans fall as harvests strengthen, filling the market with supply.

Bitcoin falls below $70,000 as the rally seems to die down.

Signs of inflation seem to still be on their way down, with Germany’s inflation figure falling from 2.7% to 2.3%.

Spotify has announced it will increase its prices for the second time in a year, which was met with a positive reaction from investors as the stock soared 8%.

Tesla’s production and delivery report fell short of the company’s 386,810 vehicles. The announcement caused problems for other EV stocks, which all saw declines.

Amazon makes a $2.75 billion investment in Anthropic, a generative AI company, as the company looks to compete with Microsoft and Google in the space.

Novo Nordisk acquires Cardior Pharmaceuticals for 1.1 billion in a bid to increase its cardiovascular division.

Upcoming Events

10^th April: Bank of Canada Interest Rates (5%), CPI Data for the United States

12^th April: United Kingdom Gross Domestic Product MoM (0.1)

17th April: CPI Data for the EU

Dividend payments for Major companies

9^th April: Phillip Morris International ($1.30)

10^th April: Nordic American Tankers ($0.12)

11^th April: Glaxo Smith Kline (£0.16)

12^th April: Medtronic ($0.69)

15^th April: Cincinnati Financial Corp. ($0.81), Reality Income Corp. ($0.26), and Federal Realty Investment ($1.09)

18^th April: Intuit Corp. ($0.90), Airbus (€1.00)

Earnings of major companies

10^th April: Tesco (not given)

12^th April: JP Morgan (Pre-Market), Blackrock (Pre-Market), and Citigroup (Pre-Market)

15^th April: Goldman Sachs Group (Pre-Market)

16th April: Johnsons & Johnson (Pre-Market), Bank of America (Pre-Market), Morgan Stanley (Pre-Market), United Airlines (After Hours)

18^th April: Taiwan Semiconductor (Pre-Market), Netflix (After Hours)

19^th April: American Express (Pre-Market), and Schlumberger (Pre-Market)

P.S.: Do not take this as financial advice; make your own decisions and do further research before investing in the markets, as your capital is at risk.