Global Market Report - September 15 2017

Asia

Japanese equities put in a resilient performance despite North Korea’s latest missile launch over the country. After an initial dip in reaction to the news, both the Nikkei and Topix indices closed higher. The Nikkei is up around 500 points from the start of the week and is now threatening the 20,000 resistance level that it briefly broke through this summer. South Korea’s Kospi index closed lower while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was marginally higher on the day, as was China’s CSI 300.

Europe

With Thursday’s Bank of England-inspired surge in sterling combining with news of North Korea’s latest hostility, the UK’s FTSE 100 index was always going to struggle to make headway on Friday morning. The index was off nearly 1% in morning trading to 7,228 points, its lowest level since May this year as dollar earners such as banks and mining companies fell. Clothing retailer Next (NXT) built on Thursday’s strong gains, making the company the biggest riser on the blue-chip index with a gain of nearly 1%. Cruise operator Carnival (CCL) was the biggest faller after a broker downgrade highlighted the negative impact of Hurricane Irma on the lucrative cruise market. European stock exchanges were a tough lower approaching midday Central European Time amid a lack of signals from economic or company news.

North America

Following Thursday’s higher-than-expected inflation rate, US investors are focused on two key announcements: retail sales for August, which are expected to have risen 0.1%, and the University of Michigan confidence survey for September. US industrial production, business inventories and rig count data are also due on Friday. Canada’s existing home sales data for August will also be released.  Futures markets are pricing in a small drop in US indices at the open on Friday. With a thin calendar of corporate earnings, US investors will be looking ahead to next week’s Federal Reserve meeting, where the central bank will consider the effects of a seven-year high in the inflation rate.