Asia
Despite another lurch downwards on Wall Street on Thursday, a modicum of calm returned to Asia-Pacific trading after some sharp falls yesterday. China’s Shanghai Composite Index, which fell over 5% on Thursday, made a modest attempt at recovery at the end of the week, rising just under 1% on the day to 2,606 points. The index dropped into bear market territory this summer and has lost just under 1,000 points since its early 2018 peak.
Europe
Markets in Europe saw modest gains after yesterday’s sell-off. In the UK, percentage gains on the FTSE 250 outstripped those of the FTSE 100. Housebuilder Barratt (BDEV), which fell around 10% yesterday as brokers downgraded the UK listed housing sector, was at the other end of leaderboard today as the sell-off tempted buyers back in.
The FTSE 100 is just about holding above the 7,000 points level, having at one point this year attempting a move to 8,000 points.
North America
The Dow’s 500+ point last night, following on from the 800 point fall day before, means that traders are on high alert for volatility as earnings season kicks off today. Last earnings season was relatively uneventful for Wall Street banks as the impact of tax cuts started to feed through to the bottom line. JP Morgan (JPM) kicks off proceedings today. Wells Fargo (WFC) and Citigroup (C) also report.
Last earnings season was dominated by Facebook’s (FB) share price crash. Given that tech has led the fallers this week, any deviation from market expectations will leave tech giants’ profits vulnerable to corrections.
However, the Dow Jones is expected to rise sharply at the open today as US markets take their cue from the return to risk shown today by Asia and Europe.
In economics, the provisional reading of the University of Michigan sentiment index is due after the stock market opens today. The reading is expected to be higher than in September.
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