Asia
A weaker close on Wall Street set the tone for another downward move on Asian markets on Thursday. The Nasdaq’s fall on Wednesday spilled over into Hong Kong trading. The Hang Seng was off nearly 1% as shares in former tech darling Tencent (00700) slumped following unexpectedly weak results.
Japan’s Nikkei was barely changed on the day but the market-cap weighted Topix slipped by just over 0.5%.
Europe
European markets resisted the weaker trend from the US and Asia and managed some modestly positive moves as the dollar backed down after its recent strong run.
More evidence came today of a summer bounce for the UK economy. ONS stats showed a strong rise in online sales in July, as well as a boost to food sales from summer weather and the World Cup.
The pound attempted a minor rally against the US dollar but this should be seen in the context of sustained downward pressure on sterling in recent weeks.
B&Q owner Kingfisher (KGF) complemented this official reading with stronger sales of barbecue, garden and DIY products in the second quarter. Despite this rare statement from a UK retailer that the British weather had actually been supportive of sales, Kingfisher’s shares dipped as investors fretted about the underperformance of France in its retail empire.
Miners helped push the FTSE 100 back above 7,500 points.
North America
After a weaker day for the Dow Jones, the S&P and Nasdaq yesterday, futures indicate a recovery in US stocks with the dollar receding and hopes rising of some progress in trade talks.
US retail sales were much stronger than expected yesterday, rising 0.5% in July month on month, against forecasts of a 0.1% rise.
Today sees the release of weekly jobless figures, while Friday brings Canadian inflation and the US University of Michigan sentiment index into view.
Walmart (WMT) and Nvidia (NVDA) report earnings today.
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