Asian stock markets were mostly lower Friday after Wall Street ended little changed as exchanges that shut for the Lunar New Year resumed trading.
KEEPING SCORE: The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5 percent to 3,142.20 and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 ended flat at 18,918.20. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.4 percent to 23,090.95 and Sydney’s S&P ASX-200 retreated 0.4 percent to 5,621.60. Seoul’s Kospi gained 0.1 percent to 2,073.16 and India’s Sensex was down 0.1 percent at 28,188.16. New Zealand, Taiwan and Jakarta gained, while Singapore and Manila declined.
WALL STREET: Cautious investors focused on earnings reports from U.S. companies including Facebook and Merck. Ryder System, a truck leasing company, fell 8 percent after earnings fell short of expectations. Ralph Lauren plunged 12 percent after announcing its CEO of two years was leaving. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 6.03 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 19,884.91. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.30 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,280.85 and the Nasdaq composite fell 6.45 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,636.20.
TRUMP EFFECT: Some investors worry President Donald Trump’s actions including last week’s immigration ban, comments on trade and tough talk toward Mexico, Australia and Iran might hurt business confidence and the economy. After a post-election rally that pushed stocks to all-time highs and the Dow above the 20,000-point mark, investors have stepped back this week.
ANALYST’S TAKE: "Worries over the nature of Trump’s presidency have overshadowed the figures," said Alex Furber of CMC Markets in a report. "Trump has alarmed markets by pursuing a controversial, protectionist political agenda," said Furber. "In his latest performance piece, the new president rattled relations with Australia yesterday and fired strong words towards Iran."
US JOBS: Investors looked ahead to government data on hiring for January. Some of that uncertainty could come Friday with the government’s jobs report for January. For this report, the first that will be at least partially under the tenure of President Trump, economists estimate employers created 175,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.7 percent, according to FactSet. However some recent data, including Wednesday’s ADP private sector report, has given some traders hope for a jobs report over 200,000.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 30 cents to $53.84 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 34 cents on Thursday to close at $53.54. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 26 cents to $56.82 in London. It shed 24 cents the previous session to $56.56.
CURRENCY: The dollar gained to 113.01 yen from Thursday’s 112.93 yen. The euro was little changed at $1.0757.
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