Firstly, China reported that exports unexpectedly rose 3.5% in April for the first time this year as factories raced to make up for lost sales due to the coronavirus pandemic, materially above the consensus expectation of a 15.7% drop. At the same time, imports declined significantly by 14.2% year-over-year in April. Traders rushed into risky assets after these numbers.
In the last week, 3.169 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time (slightly worse than the 3.00 million expected). That brings the seven-week total to 33.48 million, which is over 12 times the prior worst five-week period in the last 50-plus years. However, the number of new claims appears to be dropping notably now.
Oil jumped after Saudi Arabia announced a sharp cut in discounts to clients around the globe - signaling resurfacing demand in the region. The WTI oil was up 7% today, trading at around 27 USD. If oil breaches the resistance around 27.50 USD, we could see a quick rally toward the 30 USD threshold.
In the FX land, the USDJPY pair rose half a percent in risk-on trading and was spotted at around 106.50, while the EURUSD pair held below the 1.08 threshold.