Global Markets Update
- U.S. equity markets closed mostly lower on Friday, with the Dow Jones flat, NASDAQ down -0.5% and S&P 500 declining -0.2%, with sentiment hit after Anthony Fauci said infections in the U.S. remain too high for a return to normal. U.S. job growth in September was the slowest this year with nonfarm payrolls increasing 194,000 after an upwardly revised 366,000 gain in August with the biggest job losses coming from the government sector while hiring in leisure and hospitality nearly doubling, leading to unemployment rate falling -40bps MoM to 4.8%, partly reflecting a decline in labor force participation among women, signaling a tempering of the labor market recovery and complicating a potential decision by the Federal Reserve to begin scaling back monetary support before year end.
- Long-dated U.S. treasury yields were higher, with the 2-Yr yield at 0.318% and the 10-Yr yield at 1.612%.
- European markets. European equity markets closed mostly lower on Friday, as investors remained concerned that global recovery is losing steam amid surging prices and supply bottlenecks. Both the Stoxx Europe 600 and German DAX were down -0.3% and U.K. FTSE 100 closed +0.2% higher.
- Asian markets. Asian equity markets closed mostly higher on Friday, with the Hang Seng up +0.6%, Shanghai Composite up +0.7%, Nikkei 225 gaining +1.3% and KOSPI declining -0.1%. The BOJ issued its broadest downgrade of the country’s regional economies in more than a year, with branch managers from five of nine regions reporting that their economies were in worse shape now than three months ago, as factory output was disrupted by shortages of parts and chips, while consumer spending was dented by a surge in Covid infection cases over summer.
- WTI oil is trading at US$79.35 a barrel. Iron ore price is at US$120.43 per ton. Spot gold is trading at US$1,757 per oz.
ASX Market Update
- ASX performance. The ASX 200 closed +0.87% higher on Friday.
- EML Payments Ltd (EML) slumped -14.6%, after announcing its Irish regulated subsidiary has received further correspondence from the Central Bank of Ireland on significant regulatory concerns.
- Today’s trading. No major data is to be published.