· U.S. stock futures mixed as Microsoft kicks off big-tech earnings on a high note
Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. equity indexes were mixed during the overnight session Tuesday as Wall Street pored over earnings results from Microsoft and awaited similar updates from Apple, Facebook and Tesla due Wednesday.
Nasdaq-100 futures outperformed with a gain of about 68 points. Dow futures and S&P 500 futures, on the other hand, traded in negative territory.
A handful of stocks, including software giant Microsoft, dominated the trading action in the extended session.
Microsoft investors appeared pleased with the company’s performance in its fiscal second quarter, when it grew revenues 17% on a year-over-year basis. Adding to the optimism of Microsoft’s profit report was a jump in the company’s Intelligent Cloud unit, a segment investors think critical to the company’s future success.
· Asian shares step back, Microsoft's brisk earnings boost tech optimism
Asian equities slipped on Wednesday as investors looked to the Federal Reserve’s guidance on its monetary policy while futures for U.S. tech shares jumped after strong earnings from Microsoft.
European stocks are expected to slip a tad, with EuroStoxx 50 futures down 0.3% and FTSE futures shedding 0.4%.
MSCI’s gauge of Asian ex-Japan shares slipped 0.2%, dragged lower by profit-taking in resource shares as some investors have grown wary of stretched valuations.
· Japan shares end higher as IMF forecast boosts hopes of higher earnings
Japanese stocks closed higher on Wednesday, on hopes of better corporate results after the International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for global growth, while shares of Nikko Denko jumped following a revision in its earnings outlook.
The Nikkei share average ended 0.31% higher at 28,635.21, while the broader Topix gained 0.65% to 1,860.07.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its forecast for global economic growth in 2021 and said the coronavirus-triggered downturn last year would be nearly a full percentage point less severe than expected.
· China stocks end higher as upbeat data signals brisk factory recovery
China stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with banking and manufacturing shares leading the gains, as upbeat industrial data suggested a sustained recovery while the manufacturing sector rapidly emerged from its COVID-19 slump.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.11% at 3,573.34, shrugging off concerns that policy makers would shift to a tighter stance to cool gains in share prices.
· China, India's COVID-19 vaccinations to stretch to late 2022: study
COVID-19 vaccination programmes in China and India will stretch until late 2022 due to the sheer size of their population, and more than 85 poor countries will not have widespread access to vaccines before 2023, a study showed on Wednesday.
· European stocks were mixed on Wednesday, echoing an uncertain trend seen in other global markets overnight.
The lackluster sentiment seen in Europe reflects investor uncertainty amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic; stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Wednesday trade, while U.S. stock futures contracts tied to the major U.S. equity indexes were mixed during the overnight session as Wall Street pored over earnings results from Microsoft and awaited similar updates from Apple, Facebook and Tesla due Wednesday.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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