Global markets mixed as tech boosts US stock futures, Europe dips

SINGAPORE, April 26 (Reuters): Global stock markets moved in opposite directions on Wednesday, as European investors responded to strain in the US banking sector but Wall Street futures rose on bullish updates from Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet.
Europe's STOXX 600 share index fell 0.7 per cent, as regional banking stocks dropped 1.3 per cent.
MSCI's broad index of global stocks was steady, after Asian markets outside of Japan closed higher in line with rising Wall Street futures.
Shares in troubled San Francisco-based lender First Republic Bank hit a record low on Tuesday as it disclosed a $100 billion plunge in deposits, reviving fears over smaller US banks that began with Silicon Valley Bank's collapse in March.
But ahead of quarterly results from Facebook parent Meta Platforms later in the day, Nasdaq futures were up 1.2 per cent on Wednesday morning in Europe and S&P 500 futures gained 0.4 per cent.
Microsoft's Frankfurt-listed shares rose 6.6 per cent after its quarterly results, issued after the US stock market closed on Tuesday, beat analysts' forecasts. A $70 billion share buyback announced by Google parent Alphabet also looked set to insulate the mood on Wall Street from banking sector troubles.
US and European financial conditions have tightened significantly since the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank embarked on their most aggressive interest rate-hiking cycles for decades last year to battle inflation.
This has dented confidence towards loan-dependent sectors such as real estate, and raised questions over how global banks will deal with defaults.
Deposit flight from US banks has prompted investors to dial down profit expectations for the global banking sector, with banks under pressure to raise interest rates on savings accounts to keep hold of customers' money.
"Banks around the world want to make sure their deposits will stay," said Jason Da Silva, director of global investment strategy at Arbuthnot Latham in London.
"So there's an expectation in the market that banks' earnings and net interest margins have probably peaked."
The benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes had both fallen heavily on Tuesday following weak consumer confidence data, while bonds rallied sharply and interest rate futures markets priced in a higher chance of Fed cuts later in the year.
US ten-year yields fell nearly 12 basis points (bps) on Tuesday, their sharpest drop in more than a month, while steadying about 2 basis points higher at 3.398 per cent on Wednesday morning in Europe. Germany's ten-year yield slipped 2 bps to 2.375 per cent after dropping 11 bps in the previous session.
Complicating the outlook for bond markets, the cost of insuring against the US government defaulting on its debt rose further on Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned failure by Congress to lift the debt ceiling would trigger economic catastrophe.
Spreads on five-year US credit default swaps widened to 62 bps, the highest since 2011.
"The chances of US default remain very, very slim," said Guy Miller, chief market strategist at Zurich Insurance Group. "However, it just takes the probabilities to rise above zero and it becomes a real issue from an investor perspective."
The US dollar index slipped 0.3 per cent on Wednesday. The euro gained 0.5 per cent to $1.103. Gold was pinned just below $2,000 an ounce.
The yen was steady at 133.6 per dollar ahead of the Bank of Japan's meeting this week, as markets await clues from new governor Kazuo Ueda about whether he might ditch policies that have suppressed domestic bond yields and the yen.
Brent crude futures hovered at $81.38 a barrel, having dropped almost 4 per cent overnight with the risk-averse mood.