1) Chinese factory activity falls in April due to Covid resurgence
The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for April dropped to 47.4, a second straight month of contraction following March’s reading of 49.5, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Saturday. The reading was the lowest since February 2020.
The bureau said in a statement that the decline was due to Covid-19 resurgence that caused a significant disruption in both demand and supply in the manufacturing sector.
2) Wall Street closes higher after coming off its worst month since March 2020
Wall Street finished higher on Monday after the Dow Jones and S&P 500 had their worst performance last month since March 2020, while the Nasdaq Composite had its worst month since 2008.
Dow Jones closed 0.26% higher at 33,061.50 points. S&P 500 finished 0.57% higher and Nasdaq gained 1.63%.
3) Oil prices bounce back amid demand concerns
Oil prices bounced back to trade in positive territory on Monday after falling more than 3% in the early trading session on demand concerns as Chinese factory activity slowed down in April due to the resurgence of Covid-19 that led to further lockdown in major cities.
The international benchmark Brent crude closed slightly higher by 0.01% at $109.36 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate closed 0.45% higher at $105.17 per barrel.
4) Warren Buffett says cryptocurrencies are not productive assets
The billionaire guru in the financial sector Warren Buffett said that cryptocurrencies are not being productive assets, adding that he would not buy the whole of bitcoin even for $25.
“It doesn’t produce anything,” said Buffett at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, while adding that assets need to have a value, and that is not cryptocurrencies.
