Asia
China and Hong Kong stock markets were the biggest fallers in the region as technology shares once again came under pressure, this time after US investigators began a criminal probe on China’s Huawei to see whether it broke Iran sanctions. The move, following on from the Trump administration banning the sale of American tech to ZTE, heightens the trade anxieties between China and the US.
Japan and South Korea resisted the move downwards, however, as investors were cheered by yet more positive earnings from the US.
Europe
Corporate announcements in the UK involved some of the FTSE 100’s biggest names: blue-chip bank Barclays (BARC) said it had made a loss in the first quarter after one-off charges relating to US litigation, in particular the settlement with the US Department of Justice.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB), in contrast, more than doubled its first-quarter profits, but its shares were still in the doldrums on a down day for commodity shares in general.
Shire (SHP) releases results at midday after a busy week of news for the pharmaceutical company.
In Germany, troubled banking giant Deutsche Bank (DBK) saw its shares drop as it unveiled a near 80% drop in first-quarter profits. The bank’s investment arm has long been touted as an area needing overhaul – today the company announced plans to cut jobs in bond and equities trading, especially in the United States and Asia.
The European Central Bank announces its interest rate decision at 1245pm BST on Thursday. While no change is expected to interest rates or quantitative easing, the press conference by ECB chief Mario Draghi is always closely watched by currency traders.
North America
Amid a blizzard of earnings yesterday, under-fire tech giant Facebook (FB) passed through a tricky quarter reputation-wise with higher profits and users. Amazon (AMZN) unveils Q1 earnings after the market closes on Thursday, with expectations high among investors after recent positive newsflow over Prime members. Intel (INTC) also reports after the market closes, with analysts focused on the performance of its cloud computing.
Apple (AAPL) results are due next week.
In economics, weekly jobless claims will be in view, as will March durable goods orders.