| Welcome to your morning markets update, delivered every weekday before the European open. Good morning. Large cap U.S. tech shares were boosted by earnings reports, there was more reaction to a Covid-19 drug trial and euro area GDP numbers are due. Here's what's moving markets. Big Tech Lifted U.S. big tech boosted stocks after strong results from Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others put the Nasdaq Composite on track to erase losses for the year. Facebook is now seeing "signs of stability" after an initial steep decrease in March advertising revenue, while remote workers have been a boon for Microsoft's cloud services. Tesla Inc.'s numbers added to investors' exuberance, though that didn't stop CEO Elon Musk from ranting. Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. was among other technology companies whose stocks gained in post-market trading after earnings. Gilead Trial Reaction The U.S. government's top infectious-disease expert said early trial results offered "quite good news" regarding a potential Covid-19 therapy. Maker Gilead Sciences Inc. spurred risk assets higher on Wednesday by suggesting the data showed remdesivir helped patients recover more quickly than standard care. The treatment is likely to get some form of accelerated approval or expanded use, Wall Street predicted, while remaining somewhat cautious on its definitive prospects. Gilead's boss said 50,000 courses of the drug are ready to ship. Powell's Warning U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell urged lawmakers to deliver more fiscal stimulus to shield the economy from the coronavirus as he warned of a weak recovery even once the pandemic passes. Meanwhile in this region, today's gross domestic product data from the Euro area, Spain, France and Italy will show the start of the economic downturn, though it is expected to get much worse next quarter. The European Central Bank meets today having already ramped up bond-buying in reaction to the pandemic. Norway Cuts Production Western Europe's biggest oil producer, Norway, joined international efforts to curb supply for the first time in almost two decades. The Nordic country will cut production by 250,000 barrels a day in June and 134,000 barrels in the second half of the year, the Petroleum and Energy Ministry said. The move is a sign of how brutal the market rout is for producing nations that are grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, though note that oil is trading higher on Thursday. Coming Up… There's lots of corporate earnings in this region again today with oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc, telecoms groups Orange SA and Nokia Oyj, and chemicals firm BASF SE among big names due to update. In the U.S., Twitter Inc. and McDonald's Corp. report today and Amazon.com Inc. and Gilead update after the close in New York. What We've Been Reading This is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours. And finally, here's what Cormac Mullen is interested in this morning Those that love to hate the recent stock rebound are putting their money where their mouth is. As my colleague Claire Ballentine pointed out Wednesday, stock bears are rushing to invest in inverse exchange-traded funds this month, with inflows heading toward record highs. The ProShares Short S&P 500 ETF -- which looks to return the opposite of the performance of the U.S. stock benchmark -- is on pace for its biggest monthly inflow ever. More juiced up peers which target multiples of the inverse performance of stocks -- such as the ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 ETF and Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3X Shares ETF -- are also heading toward their best months ever. The U.S. equity rally is now clocking in around 31%, with stocks sitting just 13% below their all-time high from February. If traders see that as enough for now, and the rally corrects, the fresh bearish money could soon see a return. But if stocks continue to push higher, those invested in the leveraged funds could come under pressure to cut their losses -- in the process adding another boost to the upward momentum.  Cormac Mullen is a Cross-Asset reporter and editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo. Like Bloomberg's Five Things? Subscribe for unlimited access to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. | 
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