Equities look primed for early gains Monday as markets open in Japan and Australia, before sentiment turns more cautious when trading gets underway in China.
Futures for stocks in Tokyo indicate an advance of more than 1% following a report late Friday that Bank of Japan officials see little urgent need to address the side effects of their ultra-loose monetary policy. The yen was little changed after weakening more than 2% last week, with sharpest part of the move coming after the BOJ news.
Contracts for Australia’s benchmark also rose while those for Hong Kong fell and an index of US-listed Chinese shares eked out a small increase. Futures for the S&P 500 were steady after the gauge closed little changed on Friday. Contracts for the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.1% following continued selling in technology companies on Friday after a disappointing batch of results earlier in the week.
Earnings and central bank decisions will be in focus this week. US heavyweights including Alphabet Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. are due to report, while in Asia investors will be watching names including Samsung Electronics Co., Rio Tinto and Hitachi Ltd.
Traders are positioning for the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank to raise interest rates and to signal whether more hikes are likely. The BOJ is projected to stand pat, letting the rate gap with its peers widen as it waits for sustainable inflation.
Attention in Chinese markets this week is on any further government stimulus as the Politburo meets. Expectations among global fund managers are low as Beijing tries to prop up growth without the kind of strong action that may create asset bubbles. Chinese stocks notched their worst week in four on Friday, despite a series of vows to boost consumption and businesses.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged down to 3.83% on Friday, leaving it little changed for the week. Meanwhile, the yield on the policy sensitive two-year Treasury was little changed Friday at 4.84%.
In commodities, wheat futures dropped Friday as Ukraine made preparations to continue a grain-export deal, which Russia exited this week. Oil notched its fourth weekly gain amid tentative signs that global markets are tightening. And gold slipped against a stronger dollar on Friday, paring gains made earlier in the week.
Key events this week:
- Eurozone S&P Global Manufacturing & Services PMI, Monday
- UK S&P Global / CIPS UK Manufacturing & Services PMI, Monday
- US Conf. Board consumer confidence, Tuesday
- US new home sales, Wednesday
- FOMC rate decision, Fed Chair Powell news conference, Wednesday
- China industrial profits, Thursday
- ECB rate decision, Thursday
- US GDP, durable goods orders, initial jobless claims, wholesale inventories, Thursday
- Japan Tokyo CPI, Friday
- BOJ rate decision, Friday
- Eurozone economic confidence, consumer confidence, Friday
- US consumer income, employment cost index, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 7:11 a.m. Tokyo time. The S&P 500 was little changed Friday
- Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.3%
- Nikkei 225 futures rose 1.4%
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index futures rose 0.4%
- Hang Seng Index futures fell 0.5%
Currencies
- The euro was little changed at $1.1127
- The Japanese yen was little changed at 141.77 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1891 per dollar
- The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6731
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin fell 0.4% to $30,014.28
- Ether fell 0.5% to $1,883.79
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.83% Friday
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.5% to $76.70 a barrel
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
--With assistance from Jennifer Bissell-Linsk and John Viljoen.