On Tuesday, April 16, U.S. retail sales data for March exceeded expectations and the risks from the Middle East continued to hammer European and American stock markets. The three major U.S. stock index futures opened lower across the board, with mixed gains and losses. The major stock indexes in major European countries opened lower across the board, with declines exceeding 1%. The U.S. dollar continued to strengthen, spot gold fell sharply in the short term, crude oil fluctuated little, and Bitcoin and Ethereum fell more than 4% during the day.

U.S. retail sales in March, announced on Monday, increased by 0.7% month-on-month, slower than the upwardly revised growth rate of 0.9% in February, and still significantly stronger than the expected growth rate of 0.4%. Analysts said the data showed the economy was still resilient, further strengthening market expectations that the Federal Reserve would not be in a hurry to cut interest rates.

The three major U.S. stock index futures were mixed

Dow futures fell 0.06%, S&P 500 futures fell 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 futures edged up 0.01%.

Technology star stocks had mixed gains and losses, with Nvidia rising slightly by 0.02% and Tesla falling by 0.8%.

Most popular Chinese concept stocks fell, with Pinduoduo, NetEase, and Li Auto falling more than 1%, Xpeng Motors falling 1.8%, and NIO falling more than 3%.

European stocks generally fell

Dragged down by foreign selling, the European Stoxx 50 index fell by 1.41%, the German DAX30 index fell by 1.27%, and the French CAC40 index fell by 1.45%. Britain's FTSE 100 index fell 1.39%.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell by more than 1.3% at one point, and was on track to hit its biggest single-day drop since October last year.

10-year U.S. Treasury yield hits five-month high

U.S. Treasuries fell due to lower expectations of interest rate cuts, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rising 2.7 basis points to 4.635%, hitting its highest level since mid-November last year.

Most other major U.S. Treasury yields also rose.

U.S. dollar index extends gains

Economic data continued to improve, and the market had to continue to postpone expectations of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve. The US dollar continued to strengthen, rising 0.09% on the day.

The yen hit a 34-year low against the dollar again.

Spot gold fell sharply during the session

Spot gold fell by $12 in late Asian trading and is now trading at $2,370 per ounce.

Crude oil fluctuates little

Brent oil stabilized at $90/barrel, while U.S. oil traded at $85.48/barrel.

Bitcoin loses $62,000 intraday

Ethereum fell below $3,000 per coin during the session, the first time since February 25, with an intraday drop of more than 4%.

Bitcoin lost $62,000 per coin during the day, with an intraday drop of 4.5%.