Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Tuesday, April 2:
1. Bitcoin Briefly Spikes Above $5,000 In Sudden Surge
Bitcoin briefly rose above $5,000, its highest since late November.
On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, Bitcoin rose as much as 20% to touch a high of $5,080 before pulling back to $4,780 by 5:45AM ET (09:45 GMT), up almost 16% on the day; that's still its biggest one-day gain since April of last year.
It was not immediately clear what was behind the rally.
It comes after a massive slump for the cryptocurrency market last year. Bitcoin fell over 76% in 2018, and is still well below an all-time high near $20,000 it notched in December 2017.
2. Oil Reaches Fresh 2019 High
Crude oil prices rose to their highest level of the year amid signals that OPEC-led production cuts as well as U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela have helped tighten an oversupplied market.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 41 cents, or around 0.7%, at $62.00 a barrel, after earlier hitting $62.03, the most since November 8.
International Brent crude oil futures were at $69.43 per barrel, up 39 cents, or roughly 0.5%, having earlier touched $69.50, the highest since mid-November.
The American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report for the week ended March 29 at 4:30PM ET (20:30 GMT), amid expectations of a decline of about 1.1 million barrels.
Read more: Just When They Needed It Most, Shale Deserts Oil Bears: Barani Krishnan
3. Brexit Impasse
British Prime Minister Theresa May is chairing an emergency cabinet meeting in Downing Street in an attempt to plot a course out of the Brexit mess as she comes under pressure to either leave the European Union without a deal or ask for an extension to the revised April 12th deadline.
May's deal has been defeated three times by the lower house of the British parliament, which failed again on Monday to find a majority of its own for any alternative to her deal.
If May cannot get her deal ratified by parliament then she has a choice between leaving without a deal, or asking the EU for a long delay to negotiate a Brexit agreement with a much closer relationship with the bloc. Parliament also has the right to revoke unilaterally the U.K.'s decision to leave, although it rejected that option last night.
"Over the last days a no-deal scenario has become more likely, but we can still hope to avoid it," EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said at an event in Brussels, adding the EU was ready to accept Britain staying the EU's customs union or a relationship akin to the one the EU has with Norway.
Sterling last traded at $1.3069, down 0.2%.
4. U.S. Futures Point to Subdued Open
On Wall Street, U.S. stock futures pointed to a subdued open after rising on Monday in response to strong manufacturing surveys in both the U.S. and China.
The blue-chip Dow futures were flat, while the S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were a tad lower.
Elsewhere, European stocks trod water in mid-morning trade, following their strongest two-day rally since January. Among national indices, Britain's exporter-heavy FTSE 100 rose about 0.4%, helped by a weaker pound.
Earlier, shares in Asia closed broadly higher.
5. U.S. Durable Goods Data Up Next
The Commerce Department will release data on February durable goods orders at 8:30AM ET (12:30 GMT).
The consensus forecast is that the report will show orders for durable goods fell by 1.1%. Core orders, which exclude volatile transportation items, are forecast to rise 0.3%.
The report comes after data on Monday showed U.S. manufacturing numbers for March were better than expected, helping investors overlook soft retail sales data for February.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was up about 0.2% at 96.96, after hitting a three-week high of 97.04 earlier.
In the bond market, long-term yields pushed further above short rates after dipping below them briefly last week in response to fears of a possible recession. The 10-year Treasury yield was last at 2.48%, compared to a 3-month T-bill yield of 2.42%.
-- Reuters contributed to this report