Asia
The trade truce rally unravelled further on Thursday with another sharp fall in China, Hong Kong and Japan markets. Without any overnight cues from closed Wall Street markets, the news of the arrest in Canada of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was one of the major drivers of sentiment, especially for the region’s tech stocks. The technology focused Hang Seng was the biggest faller in percentage terms, shedding around 2.5% or 663 points to 26,156. Japan’s Nikkei was off just under 2% at 21,501 points.
Europe
Markets in Europe slumped on Thursday, with losses of 2% seen on major indices. The FTSE 100 slid over 2.5% to 6744 points, a two-year low, and is now over 1,000 points since May. Miners and oil companies were among the fallers today, with only four stocks positive in midmorning trading.
Ted Baker (TED) shares were under pressure again today as the “hugs” row continues to engulf the people and amid falling revenues. The firm has called in lawyers to look at allegations of harassment within the retailer. But the shares showed signs of resilience as the morning wore on.
North America
Stock market futures show a fall at the open on Thursday as the exchanges re-start after the break yesterday.
In terms of economics, the ISM non-manufacturing/services composite index is due today. But this week’s highlight is the non-farm payrolls number. The jobs data, due on Friday, are expected to show a rise of just under 200,000 jobs in November, lower than the previous month. A provisional reading of December’s University of Michigan sentiment index is due on Friday. Canada unemployment figures are also due at the end of the week.
OPEC is expected to announce 1 million barrels of production cuts at its meeting in Vienna today.
Broadcom (AVGO) reports earnings today.
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