European equity markets opened lower to start the week amid a tight race for the French presidency
US stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, with tech shares leading the losses as investors braced for tighter monetary policy from the Fed as the central bank signaled it will act even more aggressively to fight inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.4%, while the S&P 500 dipped 0.27% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.34%. In individual stocks, Nvidia and Micron shed 4.5% and 1.4%, respectively, as the companies struggle amid supply chain shortages. On the positive side, JPMorgan rose nearly 2% to give up some of earlier losses.
In Asia, equities were mostly lower on Monday amid persistent geopolitical and economic concerns. Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 0.61% after the Bank of Japan cut assessment for 8 of 9 Japanese regions in its latest regional economic report, citing the ongoing COVID-19 impact and supply-side constraints. China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 2.61% as Shanghai reported a record high new case count above 26,000. Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 3.15% and South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.27%.
European equity markets opened lower to start the week amid a tight race for the French presidency. Emmanuel Macron has won the first round of the French presidential election with 27.6% of the votes, compared to 23.4% for Marine Le Pen. The Stoxx 600 Europe Index fell 0.2% in early deals, reflecting the risk-averse market environment. US stock index futures also declined in early pre-market trade. On the data front, UK February monthly GDP arrived at +0.1% versus +0.3% m/m expected.
In currencies, the USD index slipped back to Friday’s closing levels after another rejection from the 100.00 figure earlier in the day. Still, the greenback keeps clinging to the upper end of the trading range amid the dominating risk aversion across the financial markets. Later in the week, the dollar could derive support from fresh economic data if the CPI and retail sales figures surprise to the upside. EURUSD came off one-month lows around 1.0835 to regain the 1.0900 level in early European deals. The upside potential for the pair looks limited for the time being, albeit the upcoming ECB decision could revive demand for the common currency later in the week.
