Major US stock indexes finished trading below zero, but the index of small-cap companies Russell 2000 reached a record level, despite the growth of yield of US bonds to seven-year highs.

A slight impact on the course of trading was provided by the report submitted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. It reported that the index of business activity in the production sector rose in May to a level of 34.4 points compared to 23.2 points in April. Economists had expected the decline to 21.0 points.

Quotes of oil have increased significantly due to fears that Iranian exports may fall due to the resumption of US sanctions, which will reduce supply in the already tougher market.

Most of the components of DOW finished trading in the red (19 of 30). Outsider were the shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO, -3.76%). The leader of growth was the shares of The Coca-Cola Company (KO, + 1.81%).

Most S & P sectors recorded a decline. The utilities sector showed the greatest decrease (-0.6%). The conglomerate sector grew most (+ 1.0%).

At closing:

Index

Dow 24,713.98 -54.95 -0.22%

S & P 500 2,720.13 -2.33 -0.09%

Nasdaq 100 7,382.47-15.82 -0.21%

U.S. stock-index futures fell on Thursday as Cisco's (CSCO; -4.1%) quarterly report put pressure on the techs, while the U.S. Treasury yields remained at multi-year highs.

Global Stocks:

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

Foreign investment in Canadian securities amounted to $6.1 billion in March, led by acquisitions of money market instruments. At the same time, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by $1.9 billion, the first divestment in four months.

In the first quarter of 2018, Canada's international transactions in securities generated a net outflow of funds from the economy of $1.7 billion, following eight consecutive quarters of net inflows of funds

Coca-Cola (KO) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays

American Intl (AIG) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS

In the week ending May 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 222,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 211,000. The 4-week moving average was 213,250, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 216,000. This is the lowest level for this average since December 13, 1969 when it was 210,750.

Walmart (WMT) reported Q1 FY 2019 earnings of $1.14 per share (versus $1.00 in Q1 FY 2018), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $1.12.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $121.630 bln (+4.4% y/y), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $119.295 bln.

WMT rose to $87.59 (+1.70%) in pre-market trading.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) reported Q3 FY 2018 earnings of $0.66 per share (versus $0.60 in Q3 FY 2017), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $0.65.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $12.463 bln (+4.4% y/y), generally in-line with analysts' consensus estimate of $12.435 bln.

The company also issued in-line guidance for Q4 FY 2018, projecting EPS of $0.68-0.70 (versus analysts' consensus estimate of $0.69) and revenue growth of +4-6% y/y to est. $12.62-12.86 bln (versus analysts' consensus estimate of $12.72 bln).

CSCO fell to $43.27 (-4.19%) in pre-market trading.

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EUR/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.1955 (1888)

$1.1927 (786)

$1.1884 (274)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.1795

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.1751 (2971)

$1.1725 (2719)

$1.1694 (3242)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options and PUT options with the expiration date June, 8 is 152879 contracts (according to data from May, 16) with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,1400 (7135);

GBP/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.3660 (1772)

$1.3629 (763)

$1.3603 (941)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.3535

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.3472 (1402)

$1.3444 (630)

$1.3425 (1461)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options with the expiration date June, 8 is 37775 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3700 (2251);

- Overall open interest on the PUT options with the expiration date June, 8 is 40228 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3400 (2486);

- The ratio of PUT/CALL was 1.06 versus 1.06 from the previous trading day according to data from May, 16.

* - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange bulletin (CME) is used for the calculation.

** - Open interest takes into account the total number of option contracts that are open at the moment.

• U.S. restrictions would be credit negative for chinese technology cos in near term by slowing product development and sales, and increasing costs

The trend participation rate increased to a further record high of 65.7 per cent in April 2018, according to the latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

"The labour force participation rate was the highest it has been since the series began in 1978, indicating increasing attachment to the labour force," the Chief Economist for the ABS, Bruce Hockman, said.

In line with the increasing participation rate, employment increased by around 14,000 with part-time employment increasing by 8,000 persons and full-time employment by 6,000 persons in April 2018. This continued the recent slowing of employment growth, particularly full-time employment growth.

The trend unemployment rate remained at 5.5 per cent in April 2018 after the March figure was revised down.

"The unemployment rate has continued to be relatively constrained over the past year, and is still hovering around 5.5 to 5.7 per cent", Mr Hockman said.

The seasonally adjusted number of persons employed increased by almost 23,000 persons in April 2018. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage points to 5.6 per cent, and the seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate increased slightly to 65.6 per cent.