Asia
Key markets in the Asia-Pacific region fell again today as signs of stability in US equities were offset by ongoing trade fears and a stronger dollar. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost over 400 points and could soon test the 29,000 points level. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell over 1% on the day to below 2,900 points.
Japan bucked the trend as a higher dollar against the yen pushed the case for domestic equities. The country’s Consumer Price Index for May will be in view before the market opens on Friday.
Europe
New FTSE 100 entrant Ocado (OCDO) was again the biggest riser as the online supermarket continues to benefit from the “Microsoft of retail” tag applied to it this week by a broker.
The FTSE 100 was just up in midmorning trading at 7,634 points.
Dixons Carphone (DC.) shares rose this morning despite revealing a near 25% drop in annual profits as customers deferred upgrading their mobile phone contracts. The retailer had flagged the drop in annual profits last week amid controversy over a significant data breach.
The Brexit-bruised UK government received a much-needed boost with news that the UK’s May budget deficit was the lowest for 13 years.
The Bank of England’s interest rate decision is due today at midday and the odds of a rate rise are slim. Governor Mark Carney is to deliver his Mansion House speech tonight, in which he likely to touch on monetary policy and the prospects for the UK economy as it navigates a course towards Brexit.
Eurozone exchanges were off approaching midday, with losses below 1% across the board.
North America
Weekly initial jobless and continuing claims will be released today, as well as the Philadelphia Fed’s Business Outlook for June
Mexico is expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point today to 7.75%. Friday sees the release of Canadian inflation data – the country’s cost of living is expected to have risen by 2.6% in May from a year ago, based on the Consumer Price Index.
Dow futures are predicting a fall in the key index at the open on Thursday.
Book retailer Barnes & Noble (BKS) reports earnings today.