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* DAYBREAK - NEED TO KNOW (27 APRIL 2023)*

Meta added to Big Tech's good news. Shares surged 11% in late trading as its outlook beat and first-quarter sales returned to growth after three straight periods of declines. The signs of a recovery in digital advertising also buoyed Snap and Pinterest. Meta's Reality Labs unit had a bigger loss than expected, though daily users grew. EBay also jumped after its forecast surprised to the upside.

First Republic plunged again, hitting an all-time low. US bank regulators are weighing the prospect of downgrading their private assessments of the lender, which may curb its access to Fed lending. Advisers have lined up potential buyers of new stock as part of a rescue plan, CNBC reported.

More:

 Its ongoing struggles raise the possibility the Fed could pause hikes next week, Evercore said.

Regional banking strains remain at crisis level as deposit outflows are driven by consumers needing money to buy higher-priced goods, JPMorgan's Bob Michele said.

Michele also said he expects a May hike, then the Fed to start cutting in September.

US stocks had a second day of declines, as First Republic's woes renewed concerns about the health of regional lenders. Positive tech earnings underpinned the Nasdaq even as the S&P 500 lost ground. Treasuries dipped, pushing two and 10-year yields up. Oil plunged more than 3%, the dollar was mixed and gold retreated. Asian equity futures are down modestly.

Microsoft's $69 billion Activision takeover was vetoed by the UK antitrust watchdog, which said the deal would harm competition in the cloud. Microsoft plans to appeal. Elsewhere, Iliad revived talks on a potential bid for some of Vodafone's European operations, people familiar said. And Teck canceled a vote to spin off its coal assets hours ahead of its shareholder meeting, handing the initiative to Glencore in its attempt to buy the company.

 Mouse vs. man. Disney sued Florida governor Ron DeSantis for allegedly threatening billions of dollars in business as retaliation for speaking against his policies. The company, which employs 75,000 people at Disney World, said DeSantis has waged a "relentless campaign to weaponize government power."

Lawrence Summers thinks

taming prices will likely lead to a "meaningful" US downturn. "We're going to have difficulty getting near a 2% inflation target until and unless the economy slows down substantially," he said, while predicting the Fed hikes by 25 bps next week. Recession isn't in the cards in the short-term: Economists predict first-quarter GDP grew 1.9% year on year.

More finance:

Nomura's Frankfurt offices were raided as part of the Cum-Ex probe.

Jefferies is exploring options for more office space in Manhattan.

Millennium hired oil veteran Olivier Jakob as a senior petroleum trader.

Banker Paul Barrett left his role at Citi after the WSJ reported he met with Jeffrey Epstein while working for JPMorgan.

Deutsche Bank's investment arm made vast cuts to senior staff at its US fixed-income unit. Separately, the lender's head of the Americas, Christiana Riley, is leaving. Its earnings are due Thursday, as well as Barclays'.

In Asia, Samsung may post chip division losses. BYD and PSBC are set to come in strong. China Life and LONGi Green's profit are also expected to have grown.

Xi Jinping told Volodymyr Zelenskiy the only path to peace is via talks with Russia, and said he'll send an envoy to Kyiv. Ukraine's president called his first exchange with Xi since the invasion meaningful, and announced a new ambassador to China. In the US, Joe Biden touted added deterrence against nuclear threats for South Korea, including submarine deployments, and warned an atomic attack by Pyongyang would end Kim Jong Un's regime.

Chart of the Day: The gap between Activision's share price and Microsoft’s offer price widened to as much as $18.50. Although Microsoft is expected to appeal the CMA's decision, many see it as a deal-ender. "Essentially, there has never been a successful appeal in the UK on an antitrust decision," said Aaron Glick at TD Cowen. "There does not appear to be a path forward for Microsoft."

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