European Shares Edge Down Ahead of ECB Minutes - Update
August 17 2017 - 6:15AM
Dow Jones News
By Justin Yang and Ese Erheriene
-- Wall Street futures point to a lower open
-- Technology shares gain in Asia
-- Europe markets fall ahead of ECB minutes
The week's equities rebound slowed Thursday, as global
benchmarks were mixed after minutes of the Federal Reserve's July
meeting showed disagreement over the timeline for future
interest-rate increases in the U.S.
The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.2% Thursday morning led lower by
the banking sector, while futures signaled the S&P 500 will
open 0.1% lower.
Investors are watching for the European Central Bank's minutes
of its latest meeting, due later in the day.
In U.S. premarket trading, Cisco Systems Inc. fell 3.2%. The
technology company was one of the worst performers after reporting
that its revenue fell.
The tail end of earnings season will continue in the U.S. as
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reports results before the open. U.S. markets
were supported by a strong showing from retail stocks Wednesday,
with Target Corp. beating analyst expectations.
In Asia, technology-heavy markets in Taiwan and South Korea
advanced. Samsung Electronics climbed 1.8% and some Taiwanese tech
stocks made similar advances.
The region's biggest tech company, Tencent, rose 1.9% following
stronger-than-expected second-quarter results. Even so, sliding
financial and property stocks kept Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng
pressured, down 0.2%.
Along with geopolitical concerns, the prospect of monetary
tightening in developed markets has been a factor in cooling
foreign buying of Asian stocks, said Khoon Goh, ANZ's head of Asia
research, noting that foreigners have pulled a net $2.8 billion
from the region's equity markets, excluding China, this month.
The dollar softened overnight as the market digested the Fed
minutes, a decline that continued during Asian trading. The WSJ
Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of
currencies, on Thursday was up 0.08% to 86.36.
The dollar's earlier decline pressured stocks in Japan, with the
Nikkei down 0.1%.
Concerns about a stronger yen's impact on Japan's exporters--a
major part of the country's economy--send exporters' stocks and
often the broader market lower when the currency records even
moderate gains. But data out Thursday showed Japan's July exports
were up 13% from a year earlier, the eighth straight monthly
increase.
Kenan Machado contributed to this article.
Write to Ese Erheriene at ese.erheriene@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 17, 2017 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT)
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