In Asia, stocks ended lower this morning following a poor day on Wall Street, and profit was taken from crude oil’s recent gains.
The Nikkei index gained 0.3% to 16,623.95 points, putting the benchmark index on course to post its four straight session of gains. Toyota (T:7203) fell 1.4%, but had tumbled as much as 4.5% earlier after it forecast a 40% decline in operating profits for the current fiscal year.
The USD/JPY edged higher on Thursday with traders citing position-squaring by short-term players, although doubts over global growth prospects continued to cloud the dollar’s outlook. USD/JPY up 0.4% to 108.84. The EUR/USD held at $1.142 . The GBP/USD stood at $1.4445.
Oil prices fell on Thursday, dragged down by the gradual return of Canadian oil sands output, reversing a sharp rise the previous day when the U.S. government detailed an unexpected fall in crude inventories.
International Brent crude futures were trading at $47.47 per barrel on Thursday, down 13 cents from their last settlement. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost 12 cents to $46.11. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories fell 3.4 million barrels to 540 million barrels last week.
In the US, stocks fell on Wednesday and the Dow Jones industrial average suffered its worst day since February as feeble quarterly reports from Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), Macy’s (NYSE:M) and Fossil (NASDAQ:FOSL) undermined confidence across the consumer sector. The S&P 500 lost 0.96% to 2,064.46.
Disney lost 4.04% after it posted a rare earnings miss. Department store Macy’s fell 15.17% to its lowest since 2011, while watch maker Fossil decreased as much as 34% to a 2009 low after the two companies slashed their full-year forecasts.
Economic Calendar
- 12:00 GMT+1 UK BOE Inflation Report
- 12:00 GMT+1 UK MPC Official Bank Rate Votes
- 12:00 GMT+1 UK Monetary Policy Summary
- 12:00 GMT+1 UK Official Bank Rate
- 12:45 GMT+1 UK BOE Gov Carney Speaks
- 13:30 GMT+1 US Unemployment Claims
- 23:45 GMT+1 NZD Retail Sales q/q
UK Market Earnings
- ITV (LON:ITV) – Q1 total external revenue +14% at GBP 755mln. Co state on track for double digit revenue and forecasts good group profit growth in H1.
- Talk Talk (LON:TALK) – FY Adj. EBITDA GBP 260mln vs. Exp. GBP 261.2mln. FY revenue GBP 1.84bln vs. Exp. GBP 1.85bln. Co. sees FY’17 modest revenue growth and reiterate guidance.
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