Japan stocks surge to highest since 1990 as G-7 meeting is 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 NZ$6.8 billion, while imports rose 12% to NZ$6.4 billion.

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

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

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan’s core inflation nationwide rose 3.4% year-on-year in April, in line with forecasts by economists polled by Reuters.

The reading ticked up higher from the previous month’s inflation rate of 3.1% and marked levels above the central bank’s target of 2%.

Overall inflation also ticked up from 3.2% in March to 3.5% in April.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.2% to 138.42 against the greenback after the U.S. dollar index rose past 103.5 overnight, marking its highest point in about two months.

— Jihye Lee

The United States and Taiwan reached an agreement on a number of trade items, marking a deal 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, services domestic regulation, anticorruption, and small and medium-sized enterprises, the United States Trade Representative said in a release.

US trade representative Katherine Tai said of the agreement, “This accomplishment represents an important step forward in strengthening the U.S.-Taiwan economic relationship.”

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

— Jihye Lee

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

“Our Style Cycle model … remains in the ‘Slowdown’ phase but is near the crossing line of the next phase,” wrote Paulina Strzelinska, quant strategist at Bank of America in a note to clients on May 17.

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

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

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

— Ganesh Rao

Cybersecurity is one area that presents an opportunity for investors right now, according to portfolio manager Philip Ripman of Storebrand Asset Management.

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

He also explains why he doesn’t hold 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 don’t justify skipping a rate increase 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 coming weeks could yet show that it is appropriate to skip a meeting. As of today, though, we aren’t there yet.”

Futures took a leg lower following her remarks.

— Jeff Cox

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly declined last week, indicating the labor market still has some tightness.

First-time filings for the week ended May 13 totaled 242,000, a drop of 22,000 from the previous week and below the Dow Jones estimate for 250,000, the Labor Department reported. Continuing claims nudged lower to 1.799 million, against the FactSet estimate for 1.829 million.

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

However, the index, which measures the percentage of companies reporting expansion against those seeing contraction, still showed the sector in decline for the region.

—Jeff Cox