· Stocks closed higher on Thursday as Wall Street digested more corporate earnings reports, solid retail data and two highly anticipated initial public offerings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 110 points to 26,559.54 as shares of Travelers advanced. The S&P 500 gained 0.2% to end the day at 2,905.03, led by industrials. The Nasdaq Composite closed just above the flatline at 7,998.06. U.S. markets will be closed on Friday due to Good Friday.
· European stocks closed higher on the final day of a shortened trading week, as investors looked past weak euro zone data to fresh corporate earnings.
The pan-European STOXX 600 closed provisionally up almost 0.2%, with sectors and major bourses largely in positive territory.
· Equities initially turned negative after the release of weak manufacturing PMI numbers out of France and Germany. German manufacturing data came in below expectations, while France’s data also showed a decline in output.
PMI data for the euro zone came also came in below forecasts, stoking concerns of a slowdown in the region. The euro fell to a one-week low against the dollar after the figures were released.
But investors soon turned their attention to corporate earnings, with results from consumer goods giant Unilever and energy management firm Schneider Electric beating expectations. The two companies’ share prices rose toward the top of the European benchmark, both up around 3%.
· Markets in Japan and South Korea opened higher on Friday while other Asia Pacific markets, including Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia, were closed due to a public holiday.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.57% in early trade as tech stocks rose, with Nintendo shares jumping 11.38%.
On Thursday, Chinese tech giant Tencent won an important approval to start selling the Nintendo Switch game console in China, one of the largest video games market in the world, Reuters reported. The Switch was first released in 2017. U.S.-listed Nintendo ADRs rose more than 12% in the previous session.
Also in Japan, the Topix index was up 0.31%. South Korea’s Kospi index, meanwhile, rose 0.36%.
Reference: CNBC
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