Asian markets were little changed today as BHP Biliton, the world’s largest mining company, dragged down materials shares when the it announced that it would not go through with a share buyback expected by many investors. Furthermore, worse than expected trade data from Japan had a very mixed effect on the market: On the one hand, bearish data tends to hurt equities. On the other hand, this bad information pushed the yen lower – an action that will increase the earnings of major Japanese exporters in the future. Not surprisingly, recent bullish forces in the far east were counteracted somewhat, with the Hang Seng rising 0.15%, the ASX 200 up 0.19%, and the Nikkei up 0.03%.
European stocks declined after the strongest two-day advance in the past four month stemming from speculation regarding the European Central Bank interest rate announcement. Bearish movement today came from worse than expected British meeting minutes data, which showed that two members wanted to raise the interest rate. Investors were worried that a potential tightening of monetary policy would hurt the performance of equities relative to other assets. Furthermore, private sector data was not promising, as companies like Carlseberg and Balfour Beatty fell. All in all the FTSE is down 0.49%, the Stoxx 50 is down 0.71%, and the DAX is down 0.72%.
US markets are little changed after the S&P climbed toward a record yesterday. Right now, investors are juggling bullish sentiment ahead of the FOMC meeting minutes release with bearish private sector data from companies like Lowe’s and Staples. Keep in mind, a lot of activity may happen after the Fed’s report is published. Right now, the Dow is up 0.01%, the S&P 500 is down 0.05%, and the Nasdaq is down 0.13%.
August 20, 2014 – Indices News
Asian markets were little changed today as BHP Biliton, the world’s largest mining company, dragged down materials shares when the it announced that it would not go through with a share buyback expected by many investors. Furthermore, worse than expected trade data from Japan had a very mixed effect on the market: On the one hand, bearish data tends to hurt equities. On the other hand, this bad information pushed the yen lower – an action that will increase the earnings of major Japanese exporters in the future. Not surprisingly, recent bullish forces in the far east were counteracted somewhat, with the Hang Seng rising 0.15%, the ASX 200 up 0.19%, and the Nikkei up 0.03%.
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