The NAB business confidence index in Australia rose 9 points from the prior month to a record high of 26 in March 2021 and implied that conditions will remain solid in the near term, amid the strength in capacity utilization and forward orders, which both toppled previous highs. Confidence improved in all industries, led by a pickup in retail. Also, business conditions reset last month’s record high, with trading (40 vs 35), profitability (33 vs 25), and employment (22 vs 15) all reaching fresh highs. Conditions improved in all states, except for the South Australia. By sector, large increases were seen in mining and the service sectors with finance, business & property now the strongest non-mining industry. Manufacturing, wholesale, and recreation also reported improving conditions. “It looks like we have moved past the rebound phase of the recovery and are now seeing healthy growth in most of the economy," said Alan Oster, NAB Group Chief Economist.

European stock markets jumped to all-time highs on Monday, as investors continue to focus on reopening efforts and as a weaker-than-expected US jobs report raised expectations that central bankers will not be tightening monetary policy anytime soon. France and the UK are set to lift more coronavirus restrictions from next week. Meanwhile, ECB Chief Economist Philip Lane told French newspaper Le Monde the Eurozone would only get back to its 2019 GDP level during the second quarter of 2022 and that the unemployment will only fall back to its 2019 levels in 2023.

Prices for iron ore cargoes with a 63.5% iron content for delivery into Tianjin surged past $200 per tonne for the for the first time on record amid robust demand for the steel-making ingredient and lower supply. Despite the government’s environmental rules, Chinese steelmakers keep output rates above 1 billion a year on high-profit margins. Meantime, top iron ore producers Rio Tinto, BHP and Vale struggled to keep up with strong Chinese demand in the first quarter hit by operational challenges and weather disruptions.

Oil prices rose on Monday, hovering at near two-month highs after a major cyberattack forced the shutdown of fuel supply pipelines in the US. The government has declared a state of emergency, lifting various limits on the transport of fuels by road to curb fears of supply shortages, according to S&P Global Platts. The White House reportedly works closely with Colonial Pipeline to help it recover from the attack as the network is the source of nearly half of the US East Coast's fuel supply, transporting 2.5 million barrels per day of gasoline and other fuels. On the supply side, OPEC+ started this month a gradual easing of oil production curbs after introducing deep cuts since a pandemic-induced oil price collapse in 2020. Elsewhere, Tehran might see sanctions lifted if negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the US are successful. At around 06:15 AM GMT, WTI crude rose 0.7% to %65.36 a barrel, while Brent oil went up 0.8% to $68.82 a barrel.

Norway's producer prices surged by 22.5 percent year-on-year in April 2021, accelerating sharply from an 18.3 percent gain in the previous month. This was the fourth straight month of producer inflation and the strongest growth since October 2018, as cost rose faster for energy goods (69.6 percent vs 60.3 percent in March), extraction and related services (53.3 vs 52.5 percent), manufacturing (7.5 percent v 2.4 percent), and electricity, gas, and steam (57.8 percent vs 41.4 percent). On a monthly basis, producer prices edged up 0.1 percent in April, rebounding from a 0.2 percent drop in March.

US stock futures traded higher on Monday after the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 closed at record levels Friday as a disappointing payroll report eased worries about the Federal Reserve reducing its support anytime soon. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 266 thousand, well below forecasts of nearly one million, while the jobless rate unexpectedly edged up to 6.1% from 6% in the prior period, amid an escalating shortage of available workers. Meantime, traders are monitoring reports of a ransomware attack on the US’ largest fuel pipeline. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo noted that the Federal government is working to avoid supply disruptions after Colonial Pipeline suspended operations Friday. Last week, the Dow surged 2.7% to snap a two-week losing streak. The S&P 500 added 1.2%. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 1.5%.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 10 points or 0.3% to 3,408 in afternoon trade on Monday, erasing its early gains, as traders shifted their focus toward COVID-19 situations. China reported 12 new virus cases in the mainland on Saturday, up from seven a day earlier. Meantime, health authorities in Hong Kong warned of the heightened risk posed by coronavirus variant strains. In the US, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that the country has a long way to go to recover from the pandemic and many Americans are still struggling to return to work and last week's lower-than-expected job numbers were a reflection of that. Meanwhile, China's foreign exchange reserves rose by $28.15 billion to $3.198 trillion in April. Investors now anticipate the release of China's consumer price index for April on Tuesday and a slew of economic data including M2 Money, new yuan loans, and total social financing later in the week. Among top losers were financials, real estate, and technology.

The average daily output generated by the Dutch manufacturing industry surged by 3.0 percent year-on-year in March 2021, rebounding sharply from a revised 2.3 percent fall in the previous month. It was strongest growth in manufacturing output since August 2018, amid an easing lockdown measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. Production grew transport equipment (17.1 percent), metal products (1.7 percent), machinery (11.8 percent) and rubber and plastic (8.9 percent). Production shrank for both repair and installation of machinery (-23.0 percent) and food products (-2.9 percent).

Indonesia's consumer confidence index increased 7.6 points to a 13-month high of 101.5 in April from 93.4 in the previous month, and flipping back into the positive territory for first time since March 2020, amid the massive COVID-19 vaccination program. It was the strongest reading since March 2020, as the all of the six main sub-indices strengthened: current economic conditions (up 7.7 points to 80.3); the assessment of current income (up 10.2 points to 88.4); job availability compared to six months ago (up 8.4 points to 68), income expectations for the next six months (up 5.2 points to 126.7), economic outlook (up 8.5 points to 122.6) and job availability expectations (up 8.1 points to 117.9).