Asia
With Wall Street indices closing lower on the day, some downward pressure on Asia markets was inevitable. China’s Shanghai Composite fell again, losing just under 1% to 2,546 points. But Japan’s Nikkei was given a currency boost as the dollar moved above 112 yen.
China’s consumer price inflation came in as expected at 2.5%, a seven-month high, while the producer price index rose 3.6% on September.
Europe
Britain’s hard-pressed workers received some rare good news today when wage growth data was released. Weekly earnings moved up to 2.7% in the three months to August, compared with the same period last year, meaning that wage growth is now exactly at the rate of consumer priced inflation. The growth in weekly earnings excluded bonuses moved to 3.1%, from 2.9% in the previous period.
Inflation data is due on Wednesday.
The FTSE 100 was held back by a rise in the pound to close to $1.32, although this is merely a modest level given that sterling has been above $1.43 already this year.
As ever currency markets are closely attending to political developments: UK Prime Minister Theresa May is chairing a Cabinet meeting today ahead of a key EU summit. The pound in recent weeks has risen sharply on reports of progress but quickly come back down to earth.
The FTSE 100 maintained its level above 7,000 points, but this is 500 points below the level the blue-chip index posted at the start of the month.
Ocado (OCDO) was one again a strong riser as the positive media and analyst coverage continues for the once heavily shorted online supermarket.
Eurozone markets were marginally higher.
North America
Market sentiment is still fragile after last week’s sell-off so the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are expected to remain under pressure at the open today.
Earnings season comes to life today with another flurry of big corporate names, including Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), IBM (IBM) and Netflix (NFLX).
In terms of economics, Canadian inflation numbers are due on Friday. In September, the rise in the cost of living as measured by CPI is expected to be 2.7%, compared with 2.8% in August. Canadian retail sales are also due on the same day.