The resurgent worries about the Chinese property sector pressuring global markets
US stocks extended their streaks of record-high closes overnight as investors continued to digest the Federal Reserve’s decision to start reducing its monthly asset purchases. Chipmakers advanced during the session, buoyed by Qualcomm’s strong quarterly earnings and upbeat financial forecast. The company’s stocks rallied nearly 13% as the report showed Qualcomm has weathered the global chip shortage well. The S&P and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.4% and 0.8%, respectively, while the Dow Jones bucked the trend to lose 0.1% by the closing bell. Declines in JP Morgan and Goldman stocks weighed on the index.
Asian stocks mostly dipped on Friday, with shares in Hong Kong leading losses in the regional markets amid the resurgent worries about the Chinese property sector after trading in Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese property developer Kaisa Group and several of its units was suspended on Friday. Against this backdrop, Hang Seng shed 1.41%, China’s Shanghai Composite was down 1% and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.23%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.61%.
European equities opened marginally lower ahead of the weekend, with US stock futures retreating slightly as investors are getting more cautious after Kaisa-related news and ahead of the US jobs report that could set the tone across the markets later in the day. The economy is expected to have added 450,000 jobs last month, up from 194,000 in September. Hourly wages will be important for traders as well.
In currencies, the dollar looks steady after a strong rally witnessed on Thursday nearly across the market. The USD index keeps a tad below recent peaks near 94.50 during the European hours. EURUSD plunged to the 1.1540 area to settle at 1.1550 on Friday, around the flat-line, ahead of the release of US Nonfarm Payrolls. On the data front, industrial production in Germany contracted at a monthly 1.1% in September versus a 1.0% rise expected and -4.0% last.
