Squawk Box Europe Express

CNBC is live from Paris where Emmanuel Macron has become the first French President to be re-elected in 20 years. The incumbent defeated his far-right rival with 58 point 5 percent of the vote. He told CNBC now is the time to get to work after divisive elections. National Rally leader Marine Le Pen conceded defeat, but hailed a stronger showing compared to 5 years ago and pledged to redouble efforts ahead of legislative elections in June. Global equities come under pressure, with US futures lower, after the Dow suffered its worst one-day loss since 2020 amid a four-week losing streak. Asian equities sink as Beijing races to contain an "urgent" COVID outbreak, while the death toll in Shanghai triples - dimming prospects of lockdown measures loosening. Earnings once again take centre stage with Alphabet, Amazon and Apple all reporting this week.

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Treasury yields climb and global markets tumble as Fed Chair Jerome Powell tells CNBC during an IMF debate that a 50 basis point hike in May is firmly on the table. French election campaigning enters its final stretch, and polls show President Emmanuel Macron widening his lead over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen ahead of Sunday's vote. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire tells CNBC exclusively that Macron is the only real option. Earnings season is ramping up, we take a look at Kering, which posted double digit revenue gains in the first quarter, but the French luxury group acknowledges that lockdowns in China have had "heavy consequences". And Elon Musk doubles down on his play for Twitter, saying he's lined up $46 bn dollars in financing to buy the social media giant, putting pressure on the company's board to negotiate a deal or come up with an alternative plan.

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Netflix plunges with more than $50bn wiped from its market cap. Legendary investor Bill Ackman also takes a $400m hit to his Pershing Square fund as a result. EV maker Tesla reports record Q1 profits, this despite the shutdown of its Shanghai giga-factory during the mega-city’s ongoing Covid lockdown. CEO Elon Musk has told CNBC he hopes to avoid further price hikes. French presidential candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen lock horns during the only televised debate before Sunday’s poll. The cost of living and the Ukraine-Russia conflict were front and centre in the two-and-a-half hour contest. Russia has announced the launch of a new ‘Sarmat’ ICBM capable of hitting multiple targets anywhere in the world.  

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Streaming giant Netflix suffers its first subscriber loss in more than a decade as consumers cut back on entertainment and the company forecasts worse to come. CEO Reed Hastings has suggested a cheaper advert-supported plan now “makes a lot of sense”. In banking news, Swiss lender Credit Suisse warns it will take a CHF200m hit in the first quarter through exposure to the war in Ukraine while also increasing its loan loss provisions from its latest string of scandals. Meanwhile, the IMF slashes its global outlook and warns of risks to financial systems. The fund’s Tobias Adrian tells CNBC that the Fed must act “aggressively” to tame spiraling inflation. And U.S. markets lead Asian equities into the green with bank and tech stocks and recovering oil prices fuelling the gains.  

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The World Bank has slashed its global growth outlook for the year as price pressures, the conflict in Ukraine and ongoing lockdowns in China begin to weigh. President David Malpass tells CNBC that it’s up to advanced economies to do more to subdue rampant inflation. St Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard tells us he would not rule out a 75-basis point hike in a single meeting, as the 10-year Treasury yield surges to its highest level for more than three years. And Twitter attempts to thwart Elon Musk takeover attempt with a ‘poison pill’. CNBC learns that private equity firm Apollo is in line to finance the buyout.

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JPMorgan sees Q1 profits slump by 42 per cent. The bank’s CEO Jamie Dimon explains that inflation and the war in Ukraine are “powerful forces that threaten the economy” and that could potentially cause recession. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq snap three-day losing streaks as producers prices soar at their fastest rate on record. Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller says the central bank must continue to work to bring inflation down. Ukraine is to receive up to $800m of heavy military aid from the U.S as the conflict intensifies in the east of the country. In energy news, crude prices are down after initially surging during yesterday’s session on fears over supply chain disruption and Russian oil.

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U.S. CPI hits its highest level since 1981 with energy and food prices soaring. But the core inflation read provides hope that price pressures may be peaking. President Joe Biden blames Russian president Vladimir Putin for the hike in costs. Biden also labels the Russian invasion of Ukraine as ‘genocide’ for the first time, while Putin declares peace talks with Kiev are at a ‘dead end’. 

Sino-Russian trade, meanwhile, rises almost 30 per cent in Q1 but imports from elsewhere are hampered by continuing supply chain disruption. And in luxury news, LVMH enjoys renewed demand for labels Dior and Louis Vuitton but CFO Jean-Jacques Guiony says the outlook in China remains opaque.  

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U.S. equities tumble ahead of today’s inflation report with CPI forecast to hit its highest level in 41 years. All non-essential U.S. consular staff are ordered to leave Shanghai whose 25 million residents are locked down, battling the country’s worst Covid outbreak since the start of the pandemic. We speak exclusively to Mercedes Benz chairman, Ola Källenius, who says that the recent conflict-related spike in energy prices is a “wake-up call” for Europe. This, as OPEC nations warn the EU that Russian crude volumes would be almost impossible to substitute with further sanctions risking what could lead to one of the most damaging supply shocks ever.

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Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen advance to the second round of the French presidential elections with both candidates increasing their voting share from 5 years ago. Some polls are predicting a Macron victory within the margin of error, but a member of Le Pen’s Rassamblement National tells CNBC his party is confident it can pick up votes from unsuccessful candidates. We are live in Paris for the latest. In China, consumer prices surge at their fastest pace in 3 months amid continuing disruptions to supply chains and high energy costs. And in Ukraine, President Volodomyr Zelenskyy has welcomed EU and UK leaders in Kiev over the weekend, while his country braces for a massive new Russian assault in the east.

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The UNGA has voted to expel Russia from its Human Rights Council while NATO members have announced additional arms supply to Ukraine. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that, with the fighting shifting to the Donbas, the conflict is entering a new, intensified phase. In France, last-minute campaigning ahead of the Sunday’s presidential election first round sees Marine Le Pen closing the gap in the polls on incumbent Emmanuel Macron. France’s Minister for Transformation and Public Services, Amelie de Montchalin, tells CNBC a Le Pen presidency would weaken and damage France. And at Tesla’s Cyber Rodeo, CEO Elon Musk pledges to make half a million Model Y SUVs a year at the EV maker’s new plant in Texas.

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