Markets Daily: Buying the dip

Market data as of 06:07 am EST. Market data may be delayed depending on provider agreements. Global stocks stumbled as a batch of downbeat e

View in browser

Markets Snapshot S&P 500 Futures 5,692.25 -0.36% WTI Crude Oil Futures 67.92 -0.22% US 10-Year Treasury Yield 4.227% -0.012 Stoxx Europe 600 Index 548.88 -0.74% Hang Seng China Enterprises Index 8,742.44 -2.32% Market data as of 06:07 am EST. View or Create your Watchlist Market data may be delayed depending on provider agreements.

Five things you need to know

Global stocks stumbled as a batch of downbeat earnings fanned fresh concerns in a market already grappling with a US trade war. Chinese equities extended their slide from a three-year high, with investors citing a lack of fresh catalysts after a blistering rally.  London's Heathrow airport will close all day today after a nearby fire caused a major power outage, throwing one of the world's busiest airports and the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of people into chaos. Shares of British Airways parent IAG fell about 2% in London trading. Donald Trump is invoking emergency powers to boost the ability of the US to produce critical minerals — and potentially coal — as part of an effort to ramp up the output of natural resources and make the country less reliant on imports. FedEx lowered its profit guidance for a third straight quarter as inflation and uncertain demand for shipments squeeze the parcel company's bottom line. The stock is down 6.2% in premarket trading. Nike signaled further declines in revenue and profitability as the sneaker maker tries to clear out old inventory while feeling the effects of a growing trade war. The stock is down 4.5% premarket.

Still buying the dip

Market bets that enriched investors heading into this year have been mired in a world of pain recently. It's the case with Bitcoin, Big Tech shares, the dollar and the most time-honored investment strategy of them all: Buying the dip in stocks. Donald Trump's disruptive policy agenda continues to turn markets upside down while pushing once-moribund government bonds, European equities and commodities to the top of the leader board. The result has been a futile stretch for retail bottom-fishers diving back into last year's equity winners. For 16 separate sessions in 2025, day traders snapped up more than $2 billion of stocks, a pace of buying that occurred only four times in the previous two years, data compiled by JPMorgan Chase show. The dip buying has been punishing, because bounces in the stock market have failed to hold. A JPMorgan model portfolio tracking retail's money flows in the market shows they've lost 7% of their capital this year. That's about double the S&P 500's decline. Market watchers keep a close eye on retail traders as they are often the last to cut their exposure to stocks, so the latest bout of aggressive buying from mom-and-pop investors may suggest that equities haven't found the bottom yet. While a painful comeuppance, the struggles are boosting Wall Street's old guard, who love to preach the virtues of diversifying portfolios for the long haul. The idea is that, with a handful of tech giants dominating the S&P 500 like never before, it's prudent to spread out money across regions, asset classes and strategies. The benefit is on display this year, going by an ETF that does exactly that. The Cambria Global Asset Allocation ETF (GAA), which invests across stocks, bonds, real estate and commodities, is up and ahead of the S&P 500 by more than 6 percentage points. It's poised for the largest annual outperformance since the fund's 2014 inception. All told, this year's cross-asset shakeup highlights the dangers of too much money chasing too few ideas, says Alicia Levine, head of investment strategy and equities at BNY Wealth. "All you got to do is 'buy the dip' — I think we need an environment to change that before the psychology of the investor really says, 'maybe I should be more cautious and be more diversified,'" she said. —Lu Wang

This is just a slice of our global markets coverage. To unlock every story and stay on top of the stocks you care about with unlimited watchlists, become a Bloomberg.com subscriber. Subscribe now

On the move

The drop in Nike shares is having a spillover effect in Europe. Retailer JD Sports, a a Nike partner, is falling 6.5%, while rival sneaker makers Puma and Adidas are down 2.9% and 0.5%, respectively.  Micron Technology erased its gains and turned lower in premarket trading. The largest US maker of computer memory chips gave a strong sales forecast, bolstered by demand for AI products, yet the stock has already rallied 22% this year. Lennar's guidance for second-quarter margins came in below expectations amid a challenging US housing market. The home builder's shares fell 3.2% in after-hours trading, after the company also provided new orders guidance that fell short of analyst estimates.  JD Wetherspoon slides 12% in London, hitting a two-year low, after the pub chain reported weaker-than-expected earnings, fueling concerns about the strength of UK consumers.  Asos jumps 25% in London, their best day in nearly five years, after the online fashion retailer reiterated it expects a "significant improvement" in profitability in the first half.   Carnival is slated to report before the market opens on Friday. Investors will parse the cruise-ship operator's announcement for any commentary on strength in bookings and onboard spending given recent warnings from other consumer-facing companies. —Subrat Patnaik

Ukraine's wobbling bonds

Ukraine is starting to put the financial pieces in place for its post-war reconstruction.  Days before the White House encounter between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the country received a delegation of foreign investors in Kyiv, including representatives from creditors such as TCW Funds and Lazard Asset Management. The meetings were the first of their kind since Russia's invasion in 2022.  The creditors are key to financing Ukraine's plans to rebuild its ravaged economy once a deal is finally struck to end the fighting. Investors piled into Ukraine's existing overseas bonds late last year, bidding up their prices from deeply distressed levels on optimism Trump would quickly forge a peace deal.  The late-February clash in the Oval Office damped that enthusiasm but prices are still up markedly from last year in a sign that, with more progress on peace talks, Ukraine may eventually be able to tap investors for fresh financing. "We are still constructive on Ukrainian assets," said Arif Joshi, the co-head of emerging-market debt at Lazard and one of the investors from the Kyiv trip. "There are many different vectors for a positive outcome in Ukraine." —Daryna Krasnolutska and Carolina Wilson

Chasing the rally

Market watchers in Europe are abandoning caution and chasing the stock market rally. Almost half the strategists in a monthly Bloomberg survey have raised their forecasts for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index since last month — when about two thirds of strategists were expecting downside ahead.  The new estimates raised the median target by more than 6% to 566 from 533 last month. While the average implies little upside from current levels, strategists are overwhelmingly positive, with less than a third now expecting a pullback this year. Stocks have gotten a boost from planned surge in European defense spending, and the prospect of further interest rate cuts from the European Central Bank.  "The outlook has shifted materially for Europe in a short space of time," said UBS Group AG strategist Gerry Fowler, who sees the region's economic growth potentially accelerating in coming years to draw money away from the US.  —Michael Msika

Word from Wall Street "At the beginning of the year, there were very high hopes on the incoming administration  talking about deregulation, creating a more business friendly environment, supply side  changes. That side of the policy agenda has been slower." Christopher Willcox Head of trading and investment banking, Nomura Click here to read more from Willcox on tariffs and economic growth.

What else we're reading

Trump's 'Big One' on Tariffs Has Emerging-Market Traders on Edge Europe Is Short of Gunpowder and TNT When It Needs Them Most Germany's Spending Plan Reignites Jitters Over Periphery Debt One Man's Crypto Windfall Is Funding a $1 Billion Space Station Musk Asks Tesla Employees to Hang On to Stock Despite 40% Drop

Please share your thoughts on how we're doing and what we're missing. Contact us at marketsdaily@bloomberg.net.

Enjoying Markets Daily? You might also like: Breaking News Alerts for the biggest stories from around the world, delivered to your inbox as they happen Odd Lots for Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway's daily newsletter on the newest market crazes The Everything Risk for Ed Harrison's weekly take on what could upend markets Money Stuff for Bloomberg Opinion's Matt Levine's newsletter on all things Wall Street and finance Points of Return for Bloomberg Opinion's John Authers' daily dive into markets Bloomberg.com subscribers have exclusive access to all of our premium newsletters.

Follow Us

Like getting this newsletter? Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else.  Learn more. Want to sponsor this newsletter? Get in touch here. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Markets Daily newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, sign up here to get it in your inbox. Unsubscribe Bloomberg.com Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022