US weekly jobless claims are due followed by the Philly Fed index later today
Wall Street stocks fell overnight amid lingering inflation concerns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.3%. The Dow was dragged down by a nearly 5% drop in Visa after Amazon said it will stop accepting payments made with Visa credit cards issued in the U.K. starting next year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are still higher for the week.
Asian equities followed Wall Street lower on Thursday amid reports showing a rise in coronavirus cases in several countries in the region while a drop in crude oil prices added to a more downbeat tone in the markets. Earlier in the session, there were reports that China Evergrande unit to sell all its shares of Hengsten as the troubled company seeks to raise funds to pay debts. The sale accounts for around 18% of issued shares of Hengsten. Evergrande Group stocks in Hong Kong fell 5.7% today.
Meanwhile, the dollar came slightly off the yearly highs seen earlier in the week amid local profit-taking. On Wednesday, the EURUSD pair dipped to fresh mid-2020 lows around 1.1265 before trimming losses. Today, the euro extended recovery to the 1.1330 area, but downside risks continue to persist despite the oversold conditions. Later on the day, US weekly jobless claims are due followed by the Philly Fed index and the Conference Board leading index.
Elsewhere, bitcoin price has been losing ground since the start of the week. On Wednesday, the BTCUSD pair dipped to November lows around $58,300 before bouncing marginally. Still, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization struggles to regain the $60,000 psychological level, also staying below the 20-DMA, today at $62,700. In the short term, the coin will likely stay on the defensive as bearish risks continue to persist at this point.
