Asia
China’s Shanghai Composite Index was among the worst performers among world markets on Wednesday after weakness in US equities combined with European political anxiety to turn investors off equities. The index was off over 2.5% on one of the worst trading days for weeks.
South Korea’s Kospi wasn’t too far behind in percentage terms, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 427 and 339 points respectively. The Hang Seng has dipped below 30,000 points on a number of occasions this year but has always managed to hold above this key level. Now the index is back at 30,056.
Europe
Italy’s FTSE MIB was the focus of attention among Eurozone exchanges today, but after a number of sharp falls was back in positive territory approaching midday.
Italian bond yields also retreated after this week’s dramatic moves. The 10-year yield on government debt is still above 3% after a 124 basis points move this month. Greek, Spanish and Portuguese yields are all sharply higher this month. Billionaire investor George Soros says the EU is in an existential crisis, while also announcing today he is also backing a second Brexit referendum.
The FTSE 100 initially joined in the global move lower but managed, like the FTSE 250, to scrape back into positive territory in midmorning trading.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is one of the biggest fallers amid the departure of its finance chief and ongoing talk about the government selling down its stake in the bailed-out bank.
North America
The US economic calendar steps up a gear after the Memorial Day holiday. Today sees the second estimate of first-quarter GDP. But the week’s highlight remains the non-farm payroll data on Friday.
Tomorrow sees Canada GDP for March in view, as well as PCE inflation figures in the United States, which are the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of consumer spending.
Canadian banks continue reporting.
