Observers say some Wall Street dealers are eyeing a win for Donald Trump
TIMOTHY A. CLARY
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Japanese shares fell but Chinese markets gained in a disjointed start to Asian trade on Friday, after Wall Street cheered strong results from electric car giant Tesla.
Elon Musk’s company surged nearly 22 percent after higher earnings ended a streak of disappointing results and helped lift the Nasdaq and S&P 500, while the Dow was pulled lower by disappointing results from IBM and Honeywell.
European indices rose overnight, with investors anticipating interest rate cuts, while oil prices climbed then fell in more volatile trade for the crude market.
“US shares are somewhat mixed at the close” and “for a change, the US dollar has actually lost value”, said Phil Dobbie on National Australia Bank’s Morning Call podcast.
US Treasury yields have pushed higher in recent days, although they retreated on Thursday. Uncertainty on trading floors is also heightened less than two weeks ahead of US elections, with the outcome still far from clear.
Observers say some dealers are eyeing a win for Donald Trump and policies such as tax cuts that could stoke inflation.
That, along with a strong run of US economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve officials backing a cautious approach to easing monetary policy, has seen expectations for rate cuts whittled back.
In Asian trade on Friday morning, Tokyo stocks fell one percent, while Hong Kong rose 0.5 percent and Shanghai was up 0.2 percent.
Taipei and Seoul were also higher, but Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta lost ground. Sydney rose 0.2 percent while Wellington was flat.
Inflation for Tokyo city slowed in October, data showed ahead of a national election on Sunday and a central bank policy decision on October 31.
“The Bank of Japan meets next week, and we’ve been saying almost ad nauseam that the case for further normalisation of policy has been made,” National Australia Bank’s Ray Attrill said.
The Tokyo inflation data means that “the Bank of Japan — its nose might be growing while it says it — could say, ‘look, there’s reason for us to be sitting on our hands a little bit longer’, irrespective of the view that the proximity to the elections has pretty much ruled out any move out at the October meeting”, Attrill added.
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 37,770.93
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 20,595.30
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,285.44
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0823 from $1.0832 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2968 from $1.2972
Dollar/yen: UP at 151.88 yen from 151.83 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.46 pence from 83.47 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $70.40 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.3 percent at $74.60 per barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 42,374.36 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,269.38 (close)
