Morning Briefing: Markets lower on Chinese data, oil decline

Markets lower on Chinese data, oil decline... Japanese PM puts a hold on sales tax...

Steve Randall
Markets lower on Chinese data, oil decline
Equity markets are weak so far Wednesday as data and oil add to concern ahead of upcoming meetings of OPEC, the ECB and the Fed.

Chinese PMI data showed better-than-expected growth for large companies but the figures for services were weaker; services now make up more than half of China’s GDP.
Oil prices are also lower ahead of the OPEC meeting Thursday, which is not expected to result in an output cap and concern over new growth in the supply glut was exacerbated by the Chinese data.

Even surprisingly good GDP growth for Australia was not enough to boost Asian indexes; Sydney was down 1 per cent as the 3.1 per cent GDP rise failed to offset losses. The other major Asian indexes also closed lower.

European markets are also weak with oil in focus along with the region’s banking sector. A meeting of the European Central Bank Thursday will be eyed for inflation data in particular.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open lower.
 
  Latest 1 month ago 1 year ago
 
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones 17,787.20 (-0.48 per cent) +0.08 per cent -1.40 per cent
TSX Composite 14,065.78 (-0.15 per cent) +0.82 per cent -6.69 per cent
 
Europe (at 5.30am ET)
UK FTSE (previous) 6,191.36 (-0.63 per cent) -0.81 per cent -10.96 per cent
German DAX 10,192.62 (-0.68 per cent) +1.53 per cent -10.87 per cent
 
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300 3,160.55 (-0.28 per cent) +0.12 per cent -37.74 per cent
Japan Nikkei 16,955.73 (-1.62 per cent) +1.74 per cent -17.57 per cent
 
Other Data (at 5.30am ET)
Oil (Brent) Oil (WTI) Gold Can. Dollar
49.02
(-1.74 per cent)
48.30
(-1.63 per cent)
1218.20
(-0.06 per cent)
U$0.7643
 
Aus. Dollar
U$0.7259
 

 
Japanese PM puts a hold on sales tax
Japan’s proposed increased sales tax is on hold. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Wednesday that the plan to hike the sales tax from 8 per cent to 10 per cent this year will not go ahead.

The Prime Minister had been urged by economists to postpone the plan as the so called ‘Abenomics’ has failed to produce the expected results. The rise in the tax has been pushed back to October 2019.

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