Asia
China markets fell again on Friday, tracking Wall Street’s weakness on Thursday’s night, and capping off a week when the Shanghai Composite Index lost around 200 points. Having made gains above 3,000 points, the benchmark is in danger of re-testing that level again. The break through 3,000 in March was seen as a sign by investors that China was back on track after a 2018 to forget.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng managed to end the day in positive territory but is lower for the week and is only just ahead for the month of April.
Europe
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which yesterday announced that chief executive Ross McEwan is standing down, came under pressure this morning after a downbeat first quarter update. Shares were off nearly 5% in morning trading, leading the FTSE 100 fallers, after the firm unveiled a fall in profits as well as warning of Brexit uncertainty.
Having breached 7,500 at the start of the week, the FTSE 100 was heading back towards 7,400 at the end, in sync with weaker European and Asian markets.
North America
Amazon (AMZN) continues to defy gravity, continuing a strong earnings season so far for tech firms by posting EPS of $7.09, against forecasts of $4.67. Profits were at a record for the quarter, and the shares responded positively in pre-market trading.
More earnings are due today, including Chevron (CVX) and Colgate-Palmolive (CL). Futures point to another weaker open on Wall Street.
US GDP is in focus today, with a forecast rise of 2.3% for the first quarter. Next week the Federal Reserve meets.
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