Asia
Some markets in Asia-Pacific recovered some ground after yesterday’s selloff despite negative pressure from Wall Street on Monday night. Fears over the contagion effect from Turkey’s currency crisis appear to have abated, for now at least. China and Hong Kong stock markets were a touch lower day on day at the close on weaker Chinese industrial production and retail sales data, but Japan’s Nikkei erased yesterday’s losses with a near-500 point rise on Tuesday.
India’s rupee hit a record low against the dollar, in an echo of the Turkish crisis, but this helped domestic shares push higher on Tuesday morning. Global investors are fretting about the country’s current account deficit and slow progress in reforming its finances.
Europe
The German economy expanded less strongly than forecast on a yearly basis, according to provisional estimates, but the country’s stock market pushed higher, helped by a slight softening in the euro against the dollar. The quarter on quarter growth of 0.5% was higher than the UK’s, however, but the Eurozone’s growth rate of 0.4% was identical.
In the UK, the pound reacted to the latest unemployment figures, which showed that the jobless rate is the lowest since 1975. Wage growth was softer, rising 2.4% year on year in the three months to June, which is exactly in line with the Consumer Price Index. Inflation data out tomorrow is expected to show a slight rise in the CPI to 2.5%, meaning that the cost of living is outstripping earnings rises again.
The pound lost some momentum after the UK job figures, and this helped the FTSE 100 reclaim positive territory in midmorning trading. Shares in Chilean copper mining firm Antofagasta (ANTO) lost 5% after first-half earnings fell on the previous year and the company warned on the impact of trade disputes.
Signs of intervention by the Turkish central bank, as it raised overnight interest rates, have calmed the country’s stock market and currency on Tuesday. An official interest rate hike is considered off the table by Reccip Tayyip Erdogan, but Turkey’s leader urged domestic companies to “export, export” and considered a ban on US electronics like Apple iPhones.
North America
Retailer Home Depot (HD) overshadows the list of companies reporting by sheer virtue of its market capitalisation, which at over $200 billion, dwarves the rest of today’s list. Of similar size, Cisco (CSCO) reports on Wednesday.
In terms of this week’s economics, retail sales data is due on Wednesday, and weekly jobless claims and monthly housing starts are due on Thursday.
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