Stocks in Hong Kong surged 413 points, or 1.6%, to 26,043 in early trade on the first trading day of 2026, rebounding from losses in the previous session as markets reopened after the New Year break. Sentiment was lifted by a marked rise in U.S. futures, following solid year-end gains on Wall Street in 2025. While U.S. equities underperformed the strong returns of the past two years, annual gains remained resilient despite a global sell-off triggered by tariff announcements in April. All sectors of the Hang Seng Index participated in the rally, led by tech, consumer, and property stocks....
Japanese stocks are higher thanks to a weaker yen and hopes for domestic earnings growth. Tech and energy stocks are leading gains. NEC is up 2.7% and Inpex is 2.3% higher. Meanwhile, Honda Motor is down 3.8% after it cuts its fiscal-year earnings forecasts. USD/JPY is at 153.90, up from 153.47 as of Friday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are closely watching quarterly corporate results. Sumitomo Metal Mining and automaker Subaru Corp. are set to announce their earnings later in the day. The Nikkei Stock Average is up 0.9% at 50725.80. Source: Bloomberg
US stocks rebounded from early losses to close mostly higher on Friday amid hopes that Congress members were making progress toward ending the government shutdown. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones closed 0.3% higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed near the flatline as AI giants remained under pressure. Senate Republicans rejected Democrats' offer to scale down shutdown demands, but lingering hopes of an incoming agreement improved risk sentiment before the closing bell. The suspension of operations and government data were evidenced by the deteriorating consumer confidence measured by...
European stocks fell on Friday as investors digested more quarterly earnings, but weekly losses were inevitable, with concerns regarding overheated valuations evident. The DAX index in Germany dropped 0.8% and the CAC 40 in France declined 0.2%, while the FTSE 100 in the U.K. fell 0.6%. Despite the decline, sentiment had earlier been generally been supported by a healthy earnings season, with European firms expected to report growth of 4.3% in third-quarter earnings, on average, data from LSEG showed earlier this week, above the 0.4% increase analysts expected a week ago. There are more...
Hong Kong stocks were back in the red Friday as markets digested news of a softening U.S. job market and an unexpected decline in China's export figures. The Hang Seng Index decreased by around 244.07 points, or roughly 0.9%, to end at 26,241.83. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell around 88.41 points, or 0.9%, to 9,267.56. China's exports in October slipped 1.1% year on year in US dollar terms to $305.4 billion, missing a consensus estimate of a 2.9% increase, according to a Bloomberg survey, the South China Morning Post reported. The contraction could signal a worsening outlook...
European markets opened higher on Friday (November 7th), recovering some of the previous session's losses amid concerns about an AI bubble. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.2% in early trading. France's CAC index rose 0.27%, Italy's FTSE MIB rose 0.4%, and Germany's DAX rose 0.4%. However, the UK's FTSE 100 reversed course and traded 0.2% lower. (alg) Source: CNBC