(June 19): Asian stocks looked poised for a mixed start to Friday trading after a muted session on Wall Street saw shares end little changed. Treasuries and the dollar rose.
Futures in Japan edged higher with contracts on the S&P 500, while those in Hong Kong and Australia were flat. U.S. shares had opened lower in the wake of a report that weekly jobless claims stayed above one million, though volume was light ahead of Friday’s option expiry. Meanwhile, Florida’s new coronavirus cases rose faster than the past week’s average and Texas hospitalizations climbed for a record seventh straight day. European shares retreated.
Investors continue to weigh a resurgence in some virus hotspots that may derail an economic recovery against record stimulus measures to help stave off the worst of the pandemic’s impact. Meanwhile, Sino-American tensions continue to simmer -- President Donald Trump said the U.S. could pursue a “complete decoupling from China” in response to unspecified conditions.
“No one at this point, analysts, companies, strategists, portfolio managers, has a great sense for what earnings will be in 2020 or in 2021,” Kate Moore, head of thematic strategy at BlackRock Inc., said on Bloomberg TV. “We are experiencing a lot of dislocations in the economy and consumption patterns and it is pretty difficult to predict.”
Elsewhere, crude oil prices dipped. The pound held onto losses and gilt yields rose after the Bank of England expanded its quantitative-easing programme.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- Futures on the S&P 500 advanced 0.2% as of 7:10 a.m. in Tokyo. The gauge rose 0.1% on Thursday.
- Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.5%.
- Hang Seng futures and those on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index were little changed.
Currencies
- The yen was at 106.99 per dollar.
- The offshore yuan traded at 7.0821 per dollar.
- The euro bought US$1.1204 (S$1.561).
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasury yields fell three basis points to 0.71%.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 0.1% to US$38.79 (S$54.05) a barrel.
- Gold was at US$1,723.41 an ounce.
