· Stock futures mixed as Wall Street looks to rebound from losing week
U.S. stock futures were mixed early Monday morning as Wall Street looked to bounce back from a losing week.
Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 41 points. Meanwhile, those for the S&P 500 were little changed while Nasdaq-100 futures traded in positive territory.
The move in futures comes after the three major indexes lost ground last week. The Dow and S&P 500 slipped on Friday to finish the week down 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively, breaking two-week winning streaks. The Nasdaq Composite rose on Friday but still finished the week with a 0.8% loss.
· Asia stocks hesitant as bonds boosted by Turkish tumult
Asian stocks turned mixed and bonds bounced on Monday as a plunge in the Turkish lira sparked talk that capital controls might be needed to stem the rout, though the wider fallout was relatively restrained for the moment.
Stocks in Asia-Pacific traded mixed on Monday as investors watched moves in the Turkish lira following a sudden upheaval at the country’s central bank.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 1.62% in afternoon trade while the Topix index dipped 0.71%. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.26%.
Elsewhere, mainland Chinese markets rose by the afternoon, with the Shanghai composite up 0.9% while the Shenzhen component gained 0.71%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.18%.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia were higher, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.74%.
EUROSTOXX 50 futures eased 0.3% and FTSE futures 0.2%. Nasdaq futures firmed 0.6%, while S&P 500 futures dithered either side of flat.
Lira weakens sharply
Investors watched the Turkish lira on Monday, with the currency weakening more than 12% to 8.1162 against the greenback, compared to levels below 7.5 per dollar seen last week. Earlier, the lira had weakened to as much as 8.1745 against the greenback.
The sharp move came after the country’s central bank saw another upheaval, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan abruptly replacing its chief just days after a sharp interest rate hike.
China’s one-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) and five-year LPR were left unchanged at 3.85% and 4.65%, respectively, on Monday. That was in line with expectations from majority of traders and analysts in a snap Reuters poll.
Yields on 10-year Treasury notes edged down five basis points to 1.68%, suggesting some favoured safe havens.
Investors are still struggling to deal with the recent surge in U.S. bond yields, which has left equity valuations for some sectors, particularly tech, looking stretched.
· Japan car makers scramble to assess impact of Renesas auto chip-plant fire
Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other Japanese automakers scrambled on Monday to assess the production impact of a fire at a Renesas Electronics automotive chip plant that could aggravate a global semiconductor shortage.
· ByteDance says its video games unit will acquire Mooton Technology
ByteDance said on Monday its video games unit Nuverse has agreed to acquire Shanghai-based Mooton Technology, as it seeks to further expand into the video games business.
The acquisition of the video games studio come as ByteDance, the owner of TikTok and the similar Chinese short video platform Douyin, has made sizeable inroads into the video games business, putting it in direct competition with China’s Tencent.
· European markets open lower, with investors watching Turkey closely
European stocks opened lower on Monday, with investors watching Turkey closely following President Erdogan’s surprise decision this weekend to replace the central bank’s chief.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.3% in early trade, with travel and leisure stocks falling 2% to lead losses while health care bucked the trend to add 0.4%.
European markets received a muted handover from Asia-Pacific, where shares traded mixed on Monday as investors watched moves in the Turkish lira and bonds, following a sudden upheaval at the country’s central bank.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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