weekly jobless claims existing home sales for april canada new house prices for april canada industrial product  raw materials price indexes for april stock futures were lower thursday pointing to deeper losses for us markets on growing worries of an economic slowdown international stocks also retreated with the stoxx europe 600 shedding 17 and with major asian benchmarks suffering similar losses earnings reports from some of americas biggest retailers in recent days added to concern that the highest rate of inflation in four decades is catching up with us consumers and pitching the economy toward a recession investors were already grappling with the end of an era of loose monetary policy that had stoked big gains for stocks and other riskier assets the war in ukraine meanwhile is adding to inflationary pressures prompting the fed to embark on a series of interestrate rises and to reduce its bondholdings and covid19 shutdowns in china have led to a sharp slowdown in the worlds secondbiggest economy the combination of factors has fed into steep losses for stocks and some corporate bonds and many investors expect the volatility to continue the price action suggests its not over said philip saunders a portfolio manager at ninety one an asset manager based in the uk and south africa looking ahead investors will parse earnings reports from kohls vf and bjs wholesale club for fresh evidence of how successfully companies are able to pass higher costs onto consumers also coming up are data on home sales in the us the figures from the national association of realtors are expected to show sales of existing homes fell for a thirdstraight month in april as rising mortgage rates and climbing prices cooled the housing market recent activity data for the us economy refute the message the economy is at risk of falling into a recession in the short term said capital economics chief north america economist paul ashworth gains in retail sales point to solid consumer spending while the increase in industrial production signals that output expands robustly once supplychain bottlenecks ease ashworth said with signs that core inflation is still running far too hot the continued strength of economic activity supports the feds decision to press ahead with 50 basis point rate hikes at the next couple of meetings however capital economics expects easing inflation and a slowdown in economic growth will prompt the fed to shift back to 25bp hikes by fall the dollar largely flat in european trade wont soften from its currently high levels until the selloff in risk assets slows and drives investors away from safe haven assets said swissquote bank for that to happen economic data must show an easing of consumer prices we must see softening in energy prices and ideally an improvement in global supply chains the yield on 10year treasury notes edged down to 2859 from 2884 wednesday the move put yields which had shot up for much of the year as the fed began to raise interest rates on course to fall for seven in nine trading days read barronscom pimco is shifting away from us bonds as growth slows heres what its buying instead oil prices moved higher with the threat of more sanctions on russian supply still the main driver for crudes gains around 25 million barrels of russian oil a day will be affected by eus proposed embargo said anz russia will struggle to find alternative buyers due to constraints on shipping and infrastructure opec is unlikely to fill the gap with the group struggling to raise output in line with its higher quotas gold futures continued to soften in early european trading with the dollar and 10year treasurys remaining more attractive safehavens a lack of liquidity was noted by spi asset managements stephen innes who said futures volumes are tracking at around 50 of the 10day average the strategic gold buyer continues to offer support possibly on recession risk base metals managed to recover some losses as signs of lockdowns easing in china helped relieve recent pressure on prices some shanghai residents have been able to shop according to reports hinting that lockdown restrictions may start to ease and consumption rates could lift anz research said fiscal stimulus measures and ongoing supply side issues should see metals markets tighten in the second half of 2022 and help support prices in the medium term ubs trimmed its outlook for silver this year as fed rate hikes and a strong dollar keep the pressure on prices ubs said prices should fall to 20 a troy ounce by the end of the year compared with its 22 forecast previously it said in june prices should fall to 22 from a previous expectation of 25 and in september to 21 from a previous 23 forecast the support to precious metals from the ukraine war was shorter than expected ubs said adding that the prospect of more aggressive rate hikes and rising bond yields create further headwinds for silver ubs noted that it doesnt advise further silver long positions elon musks pursuit of twitter leads to complicated next steps and legal questions in the classic hostile takeover an aggressive acquirer pursues a reluctant quarry but elon musks bid for twitter inc appears headed to a bizarre place could twitter force him to buy a company he might not actually want tesla autopilots role in deadly vehicle crash is probed by safety regulators us autosafety regulators have opened a special crash investigation into a fatal wreck involving a tesla inc vehicle that has left three people dead the national highway traffic safety administration disclosed the probe wednesday identifying the vehicle as a 2022 tesla model s it added the incident to a list of auto crashes it is investigating that are potentially linked to semiautonomous driving features inflation is catching up with some of americas biggest retailers as their recent quarterly results were pinched by higher costs on everything from products to fuel investors dumped shares of walmart inc target corp and other big chainsnotching some of the biggest declines since the market crash of 1987amid fears that the companies wouldnt be able to pass along higher prices to consumers it has also stoked concerns through financial markets about the resilience of companies that collectively employ millions of workers in the us and abroad under armour ceo patrik frisk is stepping down under armour inc said patrik frisk will step down as president and chief executive two years into the job and as the sportswear maker is trying to reignite sales the baltimore company named colin browne as interim president and ceo starting june 1 until a permanent successor is named global stocks fall after us selloff futures edge down international stocks retreated tracking a us selloff but muted moves in equity futures suggested american markets could stabilize in thursdays trading session futures tied to the technologyheavy nasdaq100 stood about 03 lower those for the sp 500 and dow jones industrial average both edged down about 01 the global economy is in danger of entering a period of socalled stagflation or high inflation and weak growth policy makers and corporate leaders say which could erode living standards around the world treasury secretary janet yellen on wednesday became the latest leader to warn of turbulence for the global economy certainly the economic outlook globally is challenging and uncertain ms yellen said in bonn germany ahead of a meeting of leaders of seven wealthy nations higher food and energy prices are having stagflationary effects namely depressing output and spending and raising inflation all around the world more crypto market turmoil is predicted by sec chairman gary gensler washingtonsecurities and exchange commission chairman gary gensler said wednesday he worries that more investors will be harmed in cryptocurrency markets after this months implosion of the stablecoin known as terrausd i think a lot of these tokens will fail mr gensler told reporters after a house appropriations committee panel hearing wednesday i fear that in cryptotheres going to be a lot of people hurt and that will undermine some of the confidence in markets and trust in markets writ large new yorkthe number of cases of alleged digital asset fraud and manipulation continues to accelerate the head of the commodity futures trading commission said headlines about the loss of tens of millions of dollars in digital assets due to protocol exploits phishing attacks preying on vulnerable people and other fraudulent and manipulative schemes have become far too common cftc chairman rostin behnam said wednesday in a video message delivered at a crypto industry conference in new york melvin capital plans to close its funds and return the cash to its investors capping a stunning reversal for a firm that lost big on the surge in meme stocks last year and on wagers on growth stocks this year in a letter to investors that was reviewed by the wall street journal gabe plotkin melvins founder wrote that he reached his decision after conferring with melvins board of directors during a monthslong process of reassessing his business