Republican primaries

For those who thought that the world's biggest company losing over $40 billion in market cap in an instant on disappointing Apple earnings, would have been sufficient to put a dent in US equity futures, we have some disappointing news: with just over 7 hours until the FOMC reveals its April statement, futures are practically unchanged, even though the Nasdaq appears set for an early bruising in the aftermath of what is becoming a disturbing quarter for tech companies. "It’s pretty disappointing,” Angus Nicholson, an analyst at IG Ltd., told Bloomberg.

Trump swept all five states tonight as expected, and actually did a bit better than the polls indicated. He not only won a majority of the vote in every state, but came close to 60% or exceeded it in several places. With half the vote counted at 10:00 Eastern, Trump was at 57% in Pennsylvania. Trump also took 59% of the vote in Connecticut with almost three-quarters of precincts reporting. 61% of Delaware Republicans backed Trump with 99% reporting, and his percentage was even higher in Rhode Island.

Ted Cruz got his biggest loser speech in early this evening, just before the polls closed at 8pmET, jabbing at Trump being "Hillary's running mate" and "the only candidate that Hillary could beat." Ironically, Cruz blamed the media for getting excited about Trump's victories tonight...

Ted Cruz: "Donald Trump is likely to win some states" https://t.co/ud3Wy2I4r0 #SuperTuesday https://t.co/0DWCKOpfbv

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 26, 2016

• The Fed Is Meeting in April to Talk About June (BBG)
• Global stocks, oil prices climb as investors ready for Fed (Reuters)
• Apple Results to Show How Far iPhone Sales Have Fallen  (BBG)
• On Election Eve for five states, Trump rips Cruz and Kasich (Reuters)
• President Xi Jinping’s Most Dangerous Venture Yet: Remaking China’s Military (WSJ)
• Oil's Recovery Inches Higher as 'Fracklog' Awaits Price Trigger (BBG)
• Malaysia’s Reputation Takes Another Hit as State Fund Defaults  (BBG)

Following yesterday's dollar spike which topped the longest rally in the greenback in one month, the prevailing trade overnight has been more of the same, and in the last session of this holiday shortened week we have seen the USD rise for the fifth consecutive day on concerns the suddenly hawkish Fed (at least as long as the S&P is above 2000) may hike sooner than expected, which in turn has pressured WTI below $39 earlier in the session, and leading to weakness across virtually all global risk assets.