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BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets were mostly higher Friday after Wall Street ended little changed as China and other exchanges that shut for the Lunar New Year resumed trading.
KEEPING SCORE: France’s CAC-40 gained 0.5 percent to 4,818.96 and London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2 percent to 7,158.19. Germany’s DAX added 0.1 percent to 11,639.87. On Thursday, the FTSE 100 gained 0.7 percent and the CAC-40 rose 0.1 percent, while the DAX slipped 0.3 percent. On Wall Street, futures for the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.1 percent.
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.
ASIA’S DAY: Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was almost unchanged at 18,918.20 while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.6 percent to 3,140.17. Seoul’s Kospi added 0.1 percent to 2,073.16 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.2 percent to 23,129.21. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent to 5,621.60 and India’s Sensex retreated 0.2 percent to 28,168.41. New Zealand, Taiwan and Southeast Asian bourses all rose.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 41 cents to $53.95 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 32 cents to $56.88 in London. It shed 24 cents the previous session to $56.56.
CURRENCY: The dollar gained to 113.14 yen from Thursday’s 112.93 yen. The euro slipped to $1.0747 from $1.0759.
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