Japanese stocks fell,
following U.S. equities lower and paring a second weekly gain, as
investors weigh earnings and await a central bank monetary policy
decision.
The Topix index lost
0.2 percent to 1,669.72 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo, heading for a weekly
advance of 0.6 percent. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 0.3 percent
to 20,609.44. The Bank of Japan is forecast to maintain its
unprecedented monetary stimulus on Friday afternoon.
More than 250 firms on
the Topix index report earnings on Friday. Of the companies that have
posted quarterly results this season and for which estimates are
available, 64 percent exceeded profit expectations, an improvement from
the 48 percent that beat forecasts in the previous quarter, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg.
E-mini futures on the
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed after the underlying
measure fell 0.8 percent on Thursday in New York as biotechnology
shares tumbled while media companies sold off on disappointing results
from Viacom Inc. and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. The Stoxx Europe 600
Index also lost 0.8 percent
Along with corporate
earnings, investors are watching U.S. economic reports to gauge when the
Federal Reserve will increase interest rates. Traders are pricing in a
48 percent probability that the Fed will raise rates in September.
A report Thursday
showed jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 270,000, hovering near
four-decade lows as employers hold on to more workers in response to
increased demand following a slump in early 2015. The government’s
payrolls report on Friday is projected to show employers took on 225,000
workers last month, while the jobless rate held at a seven-year low of
5.3 percent.
Source : Bloomberg
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