Asian markets fall ahead of FED tapering news
U.S. Stocks fell on Friday as investors weighed recently published better-than-expected economic data against less economic support from the federal reserve. Friday’s close continued a recent pullback in the major U.S. indexes, which has been partially driven by companies issuing lower earnings forecasts. The Dow Jones dropped 0.5%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite each fell 0.9% as many companies have lowered their quarterly earnings estimates because they can’t access the supplies needed to meet demand. Firms are incurring higher costs as a result, threatening profit margins. The yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury bond rose to 1.38% as investors are expecting the Fed Chair Powell to set up a November taper in the Fed monetary policy meeting this week.
Asian stocks fell on Friday as Evergrande drags property and banking stocks, affecting Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell by 3.4%, the most amongst others debt crisis at China Evergrande Group and Banking stocks, China’s CSI 300 and Japan’s NIKKEI are closed for a holiday.
European stocks fell on Friday, capping their third straight week in the red as the basic resources sector was hit by declines in Anglo American, but news that Britain was mulling easing travel restrictions boosted airlines and hotel groups. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.9% on the day. London’s miner-heavy FTSE 100 index shed 0.9%, while German stocks fell 1.0%. European stock markets are expected to open lower on Monday, weighed by sharp losses in Asia amid concerns about the health of property giant China Evergrande Group (HK:3333) and ahead of the week’s crucial Federal Reserve meeting.
The Russian stock market ended trading on Friday with a decline in the Moscow Exchange and RTS indices following oil, additional uncertainty was created by the problem of the pandemic. The Moscow Exchange index fell by 0.25% and amounted to 4035.17 points. The RTS index fell 0.6% to 1,745.04 points.
Oil prices fell on Monday, extending losses from Friday after the U.S. dollar jumped to a three-week high and the U.S. rig count rose, although nearly a quarter of U.S. Gulf of Mexico output remained offline in the wake of two hurricanes. Brent crude futures fell 48 cents, or 0.6%, to $74.86 a barrel at 0410 GMT after losing 33 cents on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 55 cents, or 0.8%, to $71.42 a barrel, after declining by 64 cents on Friday. Oil fell with the greenback near a three-week high following a rally on Friday on better-than-expected U.S. retail sales data. That bolstered expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin reducing asset purchases later this year.