US equity markets staged an impressive afternoon rally on a day that saw investors ponder the Federal Reserve's latest monetary insights and the latest round of corporate earnings ahead of tonight's key April non-farm payrolls report - Dow eked out a +5-point gain , erasing an earlier tumble of almost 400-points to snap a four session losing streak. Boeing (up +2%) was the leading index performer. The broader S&P500 settled -0.23% lower after trading down as much as -1.6% earlier in the session. Both the Dow and S&P500 fell below their respective 200-day moving averages before moving back above the key technical level by the close. NASDAQ -0.18%, paring an earlier decline of more than >1% as heavyweights Amazon Inc (up +0.2%), Apple Inc (+0.2%) and Microsoft Corp (+0.60%) rebounded. Tesla fell -5.6% amid heavy trading volume as investors looked past the electric car maker's better-than-expected first quarter numbers released after the close of the previous session and instead focussed on the performance of chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk in a lengthy conference call with analysts and investors that saw him dismiss certain questions as "boring" and advised investors not to buy stock in the company if they can't stomach volatility. Twitter Inc fell ~1% in after hours trading after revealing a password "glitch" and advised subscribers to change their password. Elsewhere, China and the US began two-day talks after a senior delegation from the Trump administration landed in Beijing. The US is expected to raise concerns over its trade deficit with China, mandatory technology transfers and market access, while for Beijing, Washington’s move to impose unilateral trade measures will be top of the agenda.
