US Futures Slump, Asia Struggles as Tech Weighs:
- Chinese stocks slip, Japan and Australia rise, Korea mixed
- Aussie bonds extend global debt rally; eyes on JGB ceiling
US and European equity futures declined Friday as disappointing earnings from Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. weighed on market sentiment.
Asian shares were mixed, with Chinese benchmarks down while Japanese and Australian stocks eked out gains. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 1.5%, pacing declines in the wider Hong Kong market.
Positive sentiment from surges in the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 Thursday evaporated as investors parsed late results from the tech trio that showed an economic slowdown is throttling demand for electronics, e-commerce, cloud computing and digital advertising.
Australian and New Zealand bonds extended the global debt rally in early Asia trading, with yields in the 2-10 maturity zone dropping more than 10 basis points. Treasuries steadied after strong gains following the Federal Reserve’s meeting Wednesday.
Japan’s 10-year yield slipped by half a basis point to 0.49%, just below the ceiling of the central bank’s target range.
A dollar index rose after earlier this week hitting the lowest since April last year.
Adani companies will remain in focus for investors in Asia on Friday. Billionaire Gautam Adani is in talks with creditors to prepay some loans backed by pledged shares, while India’s biggest stock exchanges placed six Adani companies on a watchlist for additional trading scrutiny.
Emerging-markets investor Mark Mobius said his firm didn’t participate in Adani Enterprises Ltd.’s stock sale before it was pulled as concerns about its debt “scared us away.” Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have told some clients that bonds related to Adani’s business empire can offer value.
Gold rose slightly after slumping almost 2% on Thursday as traders sold off haven assets amid renewed optimism developed nations including the US are reining in inflation and may be able to avoid recessions.
Investors across the globe have been cheering what they perceive as varying degrees of dovish tilts from central banks across the globe.
The Labor Department releases its hiring report for January on Friday. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday the central bank had made progress in its inflation battle even as labor-market data continues to show tightness that could add to wage pressures.
Bonds rallied in Europe, helping underpin gains in the US, after the Bank of England raised rates by half a point but indicated that its tightening cycle is drawing to a close. And while the European Central Bank remained somewhat hawkish, traders were heartened when President Christine Lagarde acknowledged disinflation.
Source: Bloomberg.com