Investing.com - The Australian stock market presented a negative start with the S&P/ASX 200 noting a decline of 0.1% within the first half-hour of Friday's trading.
Thursday saw American stocks closing on a lower note, extending their recent negative trajectory. Notable dips were observed in both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average by 0.8%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite also didn't fare well, dropping by 1.2%. Canadian markets mirrored this downward trend as the S&P/TSX Composite ended with a decline of 0.5%.
Last week brought unexpected news from The Labor Department as they reported fewer jobless claims than anticipated—once again hinting at resilience in US economic health despite global challenges. While employees may view this positively, investors are perturbed that an extremely streamlined labor market might obstruct inflation reduction to align it with Federal Reserve’s objectives.
Among commodities markets, Brent crude oil experienced an uptick of 0.6%, pricing at US$83.93 per barrel while Gold witnessed a marginal drop to settle at US$1,888.55—a decrease of 0.2%.
Government bond yields moved higher across the board, with Australia 2-Year and 10-Year yields at 3.99% and 4.3% respectively, while the United States 2-Year yield at 4.94% and the 10-Year yield at 4.29%.
A minor setback was noted in Australian currency value against USD – falling back to stand at approximately 64 cents per AUD while tracking index maintained by Wall Street Journal showed USD losing ground slightly against sixteen other currencies —the figure settling down at around 98 points mark.
Asian markets displayed mixed reactions too; Chinese stocks registered gains due to expectations of supportive economic policies which led Shanghai Composite index to lift slightly - finishing up about 0.4%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index remained largely unaltered sticking close to its previous closing figures whereas Japan faced some headwinds resulting in Nikkei 225 dwindling marginally by 0.4% amid concerns revolving around China's financial stability and potential changes following Federal Reserve’s next policy decision.