Japanese stocks rose to their highest level since 1990 when the G7 meeting took place

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

State Statistics Department He said exports rose 10% year-on-year to NZ$6.8 billion, while imports rose 12% to NZ$6.4 billion.

It said milk, butter and cheese exports grew the most in April compared to last year, rising 26% year-on-year to NZ$2 billion.

Meanwhile, petroleum and petroleum products led imports, rising 312% to NZ$974 million.

— Lim Hwi Ji

The United States and Taiwan have agreed on a number of trade terms, marking the first part of the bilateral “21st Century Trade” initiative.

The US trade representative said in a statement that 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 businesses.

“This achievement marks an important step forward in strengthening economic relations between the United States and Taiwan,” said US trade envoy Catherine Tay of the agreement.

The deal comes despite growing pressure from China, a warning of deepening bilateral relations between the United States and Taiwan.

– Jihe Lee

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

“Our style cycle model … is still in the ‘slowdown’ phase, but is close to the cutting line for the next phase,” Bank of America quantitative strategist Polina Strelinska wrote in a May 17 note to clients.

“Historically, the ‘recession’ phase was the typical successor to the ‘slowdown’ phase, but the ‘boom’ phase also followed the ‘slowdown’ in the past.”

The investment bank has scrutinized these stocks based on their ability to withstand volatility in all conditions.

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

-Ganesh Rao

According to Storebrand Asset Management portfolio manager Philip Reibmann, cybersecurity is an area of ​​opportunity for investors right now.

Reibmann, who manages the $1 billion sustainable Storebrand Global Solutions fund, is bullish on a number of cybersecurity companies.

He also explains why he doesn’t typically have big tech names in his trunk.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Wizen color

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

“Having raised the target range for the federal funds rate at each of the last 10 FOMC meetings, we’ve made some progress,” she said in prepared remarks for a speech to bankers in San Antonio. “Data in the coming weeks may indicate that skipping a meeting is appropriate. But even today we are not quite there yet.”

Futures fell after her comments.

– Jeff Cox

Initial jobless claims fell unexpectedly last week, indicating that the labor market is still experiencing some slump.

The total number of first-time applicants for the week ending May 13 was 242,000, down 22,000 from the previous week and below the Dow Jones estimate of 250,000, the Department of Labor reported. Continuing claims fell to 1.799 million, against FactSet’s estimate of 1.829 million.

In other economic news, the region’s Manufacturing at the Philadelphia Fed Index rose to -10.4, up 29 percentage points and better than the -20 estimate.

However, the index, which measures the percentage of companies reporting growth versus those experiencing contraction, still shows the industry declining relative to the region.

– Jeff Cox