{"text":[[{"start":14.1,"text":"US equities slid late in the day on Wednesday led by some of the stocks most favoured by investors through the pandemic but less popular as the economy recovers. "}],[{"start":25.189999999999998,"text":"Wall Street’s blue-chip S&P 500 index dropped 0.6 per cent, with technology and real estate stocks — seen to be sensitive to rising interest rates as the US economy rebounds — among the worst-performing sectors. "}],[{"start":41.129999999999995,"text":"The sectors’ slide proved enough to erase earlier gains for the index that had been propelled by a rise in energy shares after a giant container ship became stuck on the Suez Canal, blocking the quickest seaborne route between Europe and Asia for more than a day. "}],[{"start":57.91,"text":"Energy stocks ended the day 2.5 per cent higher. "},{"start":62.177,"text":"Brent crude, the international oil marker, climbed 5.8 per cent to $64.29 a barrel, rebounding from its biggest weekly fall since October. "},{"start":73.869,"text":"Before Wednesday, Brent had fallen 15 per cent since early March. "}],[{"start":79.39,"text":"“The oil market sell-off has been given a reprieve,” said Stephen Brennock of the oil broker PVM. "},{"start":86.057,"text":"“Price support is coming courtesy of a transport blockage in one of the world’s critical chokepoints for the oil trade. ”"}],[{"start":93.86,"text":"But Brennock warned that “market sentiment will likely struggle to shake off its newfound bearish trend”, as the outlook for demand was clouded by worsening pandemic trends in Europe. "}],[{"start":104.98,"text":"The declines for tech, real estate and consumer discretionary stocks also outpaced gains for cyclical stocks including industrial and financial companies seen to benefit from the reopening of the economy and that had been buoyed by positive economic data earlier in the day. "}],[{"start":122.59,"text":"The IHS Markit purchasing managers’ index for March showed business activity in the US manufacturing and services sectors was booming. "}],[{"start":132.38,"text":"The first reading of the manufacturing PMI, which is a gauge of sentiment and order levels among factory bosses, rose to a two-month high of 59, well above the 50 watermark that separates expansion from contraction. "},{"start":146.73399999999998,"text":"The same index for the services sector hit an 80-month high of 60. "}],[{"start":152.25,"text":"“The vaccine rollout, the reopening of the economy and an additional $1.9tn of stimulus all helped lift demand to an extent not seen for over six years, buoying growth of orders for both goods and services to multiyear highs,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit. "}],[{"start":173.03,"text":"In Europe, sentiment weakened amid growing coronavirus restrictions, delayed vaccine rollouts and a plan by Brussels to tighten jab exports. "},{"start":182.88400000000001,"text":"The region-wide Stoxx 600 index was little changed for the day although European energy stocks rose. "}],[{"start":190.46,"text":"The European Commission is readying proposals to widen the basis for stopping shipments of Covid-19 vaccines to countries that import from the EU but refuse to export their own vaccine production. "}],[{"start":203.20000000000002,"text":"IHS’s manufacturing PMI for Europe soared to a record high of 62.4 for March in the first reading of the survey, up from 57.9 in February. "}],[{"start":215.78000000000003,"text":"“This is probably a temporary effect as we know that many European countries are now intensifying their lockdowns,” said Peter Westaway, chief economist at Vanguard Europe. "},{"start":226.74700000000004,"text":"“We are still looking at a pretty poor overall picture for the months to come. ”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"