US stocks suffered losses on Thursday after four-day winning streak as weak earnings data came out for several companies. S&P 500 was close to its almost one-year high reached in May 2015 but fell 0.52% to 2,091.48 on Friday. 9 out of 10 major sectors of S&P 500 index fell with telecom sector being the bottom performer (-2.74%). The Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) shares slumped 3.32% on the strike of its workers which weighted on the blue-chip index. Dow Jones industrial average dipped 0.63% to 17,982.52 while Nasdaq composite fell 0.05% to 4,945.89. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) posted weak quarterly reports yesterday which pushed their stocks down around 4%. Today at 15:45 CET the preliminary manufacturing PMI by Markit will be released. At 19:00 CET the Baker Hughes US oil rig count is expected, the current count is 351.
The ECB left the interest rates unchanged on Thursday which pushed the stock market indices down. The euro fell against the US dollar as well as investors anticipate more hawkish comments from the Fed next week. Volksfagen shares advanced 5.1% on a deal with US authorities the company will buy back or compensate for around 600 thousand vehicles sold with excess diesel emissions. European stocks dipped on Friday for the second straight day on weak automakers news. Carmaker Daimler fell on quarterly earnings as its operating profits slumped 9% and on the planned internal investigation on the company’s emissions certification process. The company’s stocks fell 4.7%. Another automaker Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP) shares dipped 2.5% on anti-fraud investigations. As a result, the auto sector lost in Europe 2.4%. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index edged 0.5% lower today in the morning still poised to end this week with gains. Kering (PA:PRTP), French luxury group, saw its stock falling 3.2% on contracted first-quarter sales. The index’s losses were offset by Zodiac Aerospace (PA:ZODC) shares sky-rocketing 12% on bid interest from Safran (PA:SAF). The EUR/USD pair is traded at 1.1265 with negative bias having reached this week’s low as in Germany the lower than anticipated PMI came out. Today in Europe a set of weak indicators came out: preliminary manufacturing, services and composite PMIs by Markit in eurozone and Germany.
Asian stocks slid down on Friday from the 5-1/2 week high as weak quarterly earnings in US weighted on investors sentiment. The only stock market to show the upward movement was the Japanese as the yen weakened on dovish expectations of further BoJ monetary policy. Nikkei index closed 1.2% higher on almost 3-month high ending this week 4.3% higher. The Japanese yen fell to 2-1/2 week low against the US dollar on Friday on dovish BoJ comments. The Bank may further cut the already 0.1% negative interest rates. The safe-haven yen has advanced already 10% against the US dollar since late January despite the low-rates policy. Nevertheless, the Japanese currency fell 1.2% on Friday to 100.76 a dollar. The Bank of Japan meeting on monetary policy is scheduled on April 27-28. The Shanghai Composite index retreated 0.4% on Friday to end this week 4.5% lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.9%.
Oil futures prices advanced on Friday with Brent crude 1.5% up to $45.19 on Friday and 8.5% up this week. WTI futures added 1.5% to $43.78 on Friday and 13% this week.
Spot gold lost 0.3% on Friday to $1,244.80 an ounce down from the 5-week high of $1,244.80 hit on Thursday.