US Futures, Asian Shares Struggle; Adani Hit Again: Markets Wrap

US and European equity futures declined Friday as disappointing earnings from Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. weighed on market sentiment.

(Bloomberg) — US and European equity futures declined Friday as disappointing earnings from Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. weighed on market sentiment.

Asian shares were mixed, with a regional index slipping with Chinese stocks while Japanese and Australian benchmarks eked out gains. 

Positive sentiment from surges in the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 Thursday evaporated as investors parsed late results from the tech trio that showed an economic slowdown is throttling demand for electronics, e-commerce, cloud computing and digital advertising. 

There was no respite in the rout of Gautam Adani’s companies. All 10 of the group’s stocks fell in early Mumbai trading as the Indian billionaire battles to restore confidence in his conglomerate’s financial health after accusations of fraud by short-seller Hindenburg Research. 

Emerging-markets investor Mark Mobius said his firm didn’t participate in Adani Enterprises Ltd.’s stock sale before it was pulled as concerns about its debt “scared us away.” Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have told some clients that bonds related to Adani’s business empire can offer value.

Australian and New Zealand bonds extended the global debt rally in early Asia trading, with yields in the 2-10 maturity zone dropping more than 10 basis points. Treasuries steadied after strong gains following the Federal Reserve’s meeting Wednesday.  

Japan’s 10-year yield slipped by half a basis point to 0.49%, just below the ceiling of the central bank’s target range.

A dollar index rose after earlier this week hitting the lowest since April last year.

Elsewhere in markets, oil headed for a second weekly drop as optimism over a recovery in Chinese demand dimmed and US stockpiles kept rising.

Gold rose slightly after slumping almost 2% on Thursday as traders sold off haven assets amid renewed optimism developed nations including the US are reining in inflation and may be able to avoid recessions.

Investors across the globe have been cheering what they perceive as varying degrees of dovish tilts from central banks across the globe.

The Labor Department releases its hiring report for January on Friday. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday the central bank had made progress in its inflation battle even as labor-market data continues to show tightness that could add to wage pressures.  

Key events this week:

  • Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday
  • US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

  • S&P 500 futures fell 0.5% as of 1:14 p.m. Tokyo time. The S&P 500 rose 1.5%
  • Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1.5%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 3.6%
  • Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.1%
  • Japan’s Topix was little changed
  • Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6%
  • Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.8%
  • The Shanghai Composite fell 1.4%
  • India’s Nifty 50 rose 0.3%

Currencies

  • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
  • The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0891
  • The Japanese yen was little changed at 128.56 per dollar
  • The offshore yuan fell 0.1% to 6.7478 per dollar
  • The Australian dollar fell 0.3% to $0.7057

Cryptocurrencies

  • Bitcoin rose 0.3% to $23,526.47
  • Ether rose 0.3% to $1,641.25

Bonds

  • The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.37%
  • Japan’s 10-year yield fell 0.5 basis points to 0.49%
  • Australia’s 10-year yield declined 16 basis points to 3.38%

Commodities

  • West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $75.67 a barrel
  • Spot gold rose 0.1% to $1,914.97 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Jason Scott.

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