Your Morning Fix

• US stocks finished nearly unchanged on Monday as market sentiment was weakened by Moody’s downgrade of the federal government’s perfect sovereign credit rating due to its huge debt profile.
• New York Fed chief John Williams suggested policymakers may not be ready to lower interest rates before September as they confront a murky economic outlook. Meanwhile, Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic struck a similar tone.
• The European Commission (EU) nudges its forecast for growth in the euro zone to 0.9% and 1.4% this year and in the next year from 1.3% and 1.6%, respectively, driven by US trade policies.
• The Philippines’ balance of payments (BoP) deficit widened further to USD 2.56 billion in April from the USD 639-million deficit in the same period last year and the USD 1.97-billion deficit in March. The BoP measures the country’s transactions with the rest of the world.
• According to a joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA), new vehicle sales fell by 10% to 33,580 units in April, the biggest annual decline in more than three years, from 37,314 units in April 2024.