Risk sentiment worsened after a rally on Wall Street
Thursday’s data showed that the U.S. economy grew just 2.5% in the third quarter, compared with expectations for 3.5%. That marked the economy’s worst performance since the second quarter of 2020 amid rising inflation. Still, stocks on Wall Street closed higher nearly across the board overnight, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting new record highs. The Nasdaq was up 1.4% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 1% and 1.4%, respectively. On a positive note, initial jobless claims came in better than expected, at 281,000 versus the 289,000 forecast.
After the closing bell, quarterly results from Amazon and Apple disappointed investors and triggered risk aversion in Asia. Apple reported record revenue of $83.4 billion, up 29% from a year earlier, but supply shortages were estimated at about $6 billion. The company’s shares fell more than 3% in after-hours trading. Meanwhile, Amazon badly missed on both earnings and revenue. Adding to a poor sentiment in Asian markets, China Evergrande faces the hard deadline for an offshore bond payment today, making investors nervous.
European stock markets opened lower on Friday, as investors digested disappointing corporate earnings. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was around 0.6% lower in early trading, with tech stocks leading the losses. On the data front, the annualized Eurozone CPI rose by 4.1% in October, beating expectations of 3.7%. On Wall Street, stock futures slipped in early morning trading.
In currencies, the dollar is regaining ground after yesterday’s sell-off. The USD index is attempting a rebound to the 93.40 area, leaving behind the recent weakness seen on the back of a not-so-dovish signal from the ECB, as will the central bank said it will wind down its pandemic bond-buying program in the first quarter of next year. EURUSD rallied to the 1.1690 region on the announcement, but failed to hold on to its gains and fell back to 1.1650 during the European hours on Friday.
