Japanese stocks rise to highest since 1990 as G-7 meeting gets underway

New Zealand’s trade surplus for April narrowed to 427 million New Zealand dollars ($266.46 million), down from NZ$470 million a year ago.

The country’s statistics department said exports rose 10% year-on-year to NZD6.8 billion, while imports rose 12% to NZD6.4 billion.

It said exports of milk powder, butter and cheese grew the most in April compared with a year ago, rising 26% year-on-year to NZD2 billion.

Petroleum and petroleum products, meanwhile, led imports, rising 31[ads1]2% to NZ$974 million.

— Lim Hui Jie

The US and Taiwan agreed on a number of trade items, marking an agreement on the first part of the bilateral “21st Century Trade” initiative.

The first agreement under the initiative includes: customs administration and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, domestic regulation of services, anti-corruption, and small and medium-sized enterprises, the US Trade Representative said in a press release.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said of the agreement: “This achievement represents an important step forward in strengthening the economic relationship between the US and Taiwan.”

The agreement comes in the face of increased pressure from China, and warns against deepening bilateral engagement between the US and Taiwan.

– Jihye Lee

Bank of America has named a number of European stocks expected to perform well in three economic phases.

“Our style cycle model … remains in the ‘Slowdown’ phase but is close to the crossing line for the next phase,” Bank of America quant strategist Paulina Strzelinska wrote in a May 17 note to clients.

“Historically, the ‘Recession’ phase is the typical successor to the ‘Slowdown’ phase, but a ‘Boom’ phase has also followed the ‘Slowdown’ in the past.”

The investment bank screened for these stocks based on their ability to withstand fluctuations in each case.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about their stock picks here.

– Ganesh Rao

Cyber ​​security is an area that presents an opportunity for investors right now, according to portfolio manager Philip Ripman at Storebrand Asset Management.

Ripman, who manages the $1 billion sustainable fund Storebrand Global Solutions, is bullish on two cybersecurity firms.

He also explains why he doesn’t have the typical mega-cap tech names in his fund.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Dallas Federal Reserve President Lorie Logan said Thursday that the economic data points so far do not justify skipping a rate hike at the central bank’s next meeting in June.

“After raising the target range for the federal funds rate at each of the last 10 FOMC meetings, we have made some progress,” she said in prepared remarks for a speech to bankers in San Antonio. “The data in the coming weeks may yet show that it is appropriate to skip a meeting. However, as of today, we are not there yet.”

Futures took a leg lower following her remarks.

-Jeff Cox

The first number of unemployed persons fell unexpectedly last week, indicating that the labor market remains somewhat tight.

Initial filings for the week ended May 13 were 242,000, down 22,000 from the previous week and below the Dow Jones estimate of 250,000, the Labor Department reported. Continuing claims were lowered to 1.799 million, against the FactSet estimate of 1.829 million.

In other economic news, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s manufacturing index for the region rose to -10.4, up 29 percentage points and better than the estimate of -20.

However, the index, which measures the percentage of companies reporting expansion compared to those seeing decline, showed continued decline in the sector for the region.

-Jeff Cox