European futures falling. Asia mostly in red
The main European indices are pointing to drops at the opening, maintaining the negative trend of this Wednesday in which they were penalized by the results of the technological ones. Euro Stoxx 50 futures fall 0.63%.
This Thursday, Apple and Amazon’s accounts for the third quarter are announced. After the results from Meta and Microsoft signaled higher costs for developing artificial intelligence tools, investors will be evaluating the impact of AI on these companies.
Focusing attention on the European bloc is October’s inflation figures, at a time when the market is focused on the possibility of the European Central Bank accelerating interest rate cuts, with inflation falling faster than anticipated. In an interview with Le Monde published this Thursday, ECB President Christine Lagarde stated that inflation should reach 2% in 2025 and stabilize at that mark next year.
In Asia, the main indices traded lower, with the exception of China, with the region’s aggregator index, the MSCI Asia Pacific, on track for the worst month since August 2023 – the first monthly drop since April.
Chinese indices broke the trend after industrial activity in China rose for the first time in October after five months of contraction, suggesting that stimulus measures introduced by Beijing may already be having an effect.
Investors are still evaluating a decision by the Bank of Japan that opted to keep interest rates unchanged, but the document gave some indications that led some analysts to believe in the possibility of an interest rate hike in December, which is giving strength to the yen and penalizing the country’s stock exchanges.
In Japan, the Nikkei falls 0.5% and the Topix falls 0.3%. In South Korea, Kospi loses 1.45%. In China, the Hang Seng, in Hong Kong, advanced 0.06% and the Shanghai Composite added 0.42%.
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
