A choppy session all round for equities sentiment
US futures are trading back to flat levels as we await North American traders to enter after what has been a somewhat choppy session in European morning trade.
E-minis began the session with budding optimism, racing to gains of 1% before quickly turning on its head as the European cash market opened. The drop reached a downside of about 0.5% before we are seeing losses pared a little bit in the past hour.
Walmart Q1 earnings beat expectations (EPS, revenue, comps) and that is helping somewhat to keep the retail/consumer mood in a better spot going into the session ahead.
As for European stocks, we are also seeing the fall earlier pared back with the DAX now down by 0.3% after having fallen by 1% at the lows an hour ago here.
Major currencies are still consolidating gains against the dollar and yen for the most part, with a more risk-on mood observed thus far.
