Stocks saw small moves as the possibility of further Federal Reserve policy tightening lifted Treasury yields and investors stayed on the sidelines amid bank earnings.

The S&P 500 erased losses in afternoon New York trading. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 underperformed major equity benchmarks. Two-year rates climbed to around 4.2 per cent as investors scaled back expectations for rate cuts later in the year. 

Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said he wants to see more evidence that U.S. inflation is easing back to the central bank’s goal of 2 per cent. New York state manufacturing activity unexpectedly expanded in April for the first time in five months as new orders and shipments snapped back.

Charles Schwab Corp. rose as executives said the firm can weather the turmoil roiling U.S. banks, while pausing stock buybacks in response to the industry’s worst crisis since 2008. State Street Corp. fell as it reported clients retreated from its investment products. 

“The current season’s earnings profile is rather opaque,” said Peter Kinsella, head of FX strategy at Swiss asset manager UBP. “The banks last week did better than expected, but we have to see what the reporting season will be like from everyone else. But the S&P is expensive at current levels so you have to ask yourself if there is really much material upside from here.”

Read: Morgan Stanley’s Wilson Sees Stock Rally at Risk of Yields Rise

Key events this week:

• China GDP, retail sales, industrial production, Tuesday
• U.S. housing starts, Tuesday
• Goldman Sachs and Bank of America release first-quarter earnings, Tuesday
• Fed’s Michelle Bowman discusses digital currency, Tuesday
• Eurozone CPI, Wednesday
• Fed releases Beige Book, Wednesday
• Fed’s John Williams gives a speech, Wednesday
• Fed’s Austan Goolsbee is interviewed on NPR, Wednesday
• China loan prime rates, Thursday
• Eurozone consumer confidence, Thursday
• U.S. initial jobless claims, existing home sales, index of leading economic indicators, Thursday
• ECB issues report on March policy meeting, Thursday
• Fed’s Christopher Waller speaks at cryptocurrency-focused event, Thursday
• Fed’s Patrick Harker speaks on “monetary policy and housing”, Thursday
• Fed’s Loretta Mester discusses the economic and policy outlook, Thursday
• Fed’s Raphael Bostic discusses regional and national economic conditions, Thursday
• Fed’s Michelle Bowman and Lorie Logan speak at event, Thursday
• PMIs for Eurozone, Friday
• Japan CPI, Friday
• Fed’s Lisa Cook discusses economic research at an event, Friday

Some of the main moves in the market:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent as of 4 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 per cent
• The MSCI World index was little changed

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4 per cent
• The euro fell 0.6 per cent to US$1.0930
• The British pound fell 0.3 per cent to US$1.2377
• The Japanese yen fell 0.5 per cent to 134.43 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 2.9 per cent to US$29,481.61
• Ether fell 2 per cent to US$2,079.33

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 3.59 per cent
• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.47 per cent
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.69 per cent

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.9 per cent to US$80.92 a barrel
• Gold futures fell 0.4 per cent to US$2,008.30 an ounce