European stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday after a brief uptick the previous day as investors weighed a fresh round of mixed corporate earnings and signs of higher unemployment in the US. The STOXX 50 fell 1% to 5,613 and the STOXX 600 fell 0.7% to 567. Commerzbank shares slipped 2% after the lender reported a surprise 7.9% year-on-year drop in net profit. Also, Diageo fell 6.5% following a downgrade to its full-year outlook, while Maersk lost 5.1% despite posting upbeat results and Rheinmetall fell 0.5% despite posting a 20% increase in sales. On the upside, DHL jumped 5.4% to rank...
Japanese stocks fell after the yen strengthened as much as 1% against the dollar overnight and US technology shares slumped. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 2% as of 9:12 a.m. in Tokyo, while the broader Topix slipped 1.3%. Exporters such as automakers and technology companies were among the heaviest drags on the Topix. The yen reached a one-week high of 151.79 per dollar, after jumping as much as 1% on Thursday. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said Thursday that currency markets have had a major impact on the economy, pointing to another potential...
Asia-Pacific markets are set for a mixed open on Friday, after Wall Street benchmarks the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 posted their worst day in nearly two months on a downbeat Microsoft earnings forecast and MetaTrader results. Traders await a raft of economic data from the region, including Australia's third-quarter producer price index reading and China's Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers' index for October. Japan's Nikkei 225 appears set for a weaker open, with futures in Chicago at 38,470 and its Osaka counterpart at 38,370 against the index's last close of...