Nikada
Investors watched for developments in the Middle East following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel over the weekend that markets fear could prompt a response from the Israel government. Iran launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on military targets in Israel over the weekend, but Israel shot down nearly all the incoming munitions and the US said it wants to avoid a wider war.
Japan (NKY:IND) -0.90%. Japanese machinery orders beat expectations for February, a good sign for capex ahead.
China (SHCOMP) +1.22%. People’s Bank of China kept its one-year medium-term lending facility rate at 2.5% during its April fixing, as widely expected.
Traders were also uneasy ahead of several key data from China this week, including Q1 GDP figures and March readings on industrial output and retail sales.
Hong Kong (HSI) -0.49%.
India (SENSEX) -0.67%.
Australia (AS51) -0.51%.
In the U.S. on Friday, all three major indexes ended in red, influenced by earnings reports from major banks and escalating tensions in the Middle East.
U.S. stock futures rose on Monday in a likely technical rebound after the major averages suffered heavy losses last week: Dow +0.31%; S&P 500 +0.39%; Nasdaq +0.42%.
Next week highlights include the start of the Q1 earnings season, US and UK retail sales data, inflation reports from the UK, Canada and Japan, employment reports from the UK and Australia, as well as China activity data announcement.
Currencies: (JPY:USD), (CNY:USD), (AUD:USD), (INR:USD), (HKD:USD), (NZD:USD).
