Asia
China markets received a modest boost from news that first-quarter GDP grew 6.4%, against a forecast of 6.3%, and sentiment in general was helped by another positive close on Wall Street.
Hong Kong was largely unchanged on Tuesday’s close, while Japan’s Nikkei edged ahead. The Japanese index looks to be consolidating above 22,000 points after a recent strong; the Nikkei is up from 19,561 points since the start of the year, in line with the rally in world equity markets. A firming in the US dollar against the yen since the start of the year, from ¥108 to ¥112 currently. The country’s inflation rate is in view at the end of the week.
Europe
Shares in Europe failed to respond positively to China’s higher-than-expected growth.
UK inflation growth was weaker than expected, with the consumer price index coming in at 1.9% for March and the retail price index – the same as in February – and the retail price index falling from 2.5% to 2.4% month on month. The news kept pressure on the pound, which has dropped from $1.33 in mid-March to $1.30 now, as the Brexit impasse has drifted into Easter. The FTSE 100 retreated today, in keeping with the mixed mood in other European markets, with miners dragging on the index today.
North America
Netflix (NFLX) shares are down pre-market as the streaming service said that subscriber growth would ease in the second quarter. Morningstar views the shares as overvalued as the company faces stiff competition in the coming years from rivals like Disney.
PepsiCo (PEP) is one of the biggest companies in the world to report today, while Morgan Stanley (MS) continues the bank earnings season.
The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book is released today, a few hours after Canada’s March inflation data. US retail sales are in view on Thursday.