Morning Briefing: Wall Street, data weakens markets

Wall Street, data weakens markets
Wall Street’s slip back from recent highs in the previous session, and a raft of data, has subdued global equity markets so far Friday.

Markets are also assessing the current state of commodities and a speech from Fed chair Janet Yellen.

In Asia, markets closed lower with Japanese PMI and confidence data slipping; and Chinese services PMI offsetting gains for manufacturing. Political tension between China and South Korea has also rattled investors. Seoul’s KOPSI closed more than 1 per cent lower.

European markets are also mindful of political tension with key elections approaching and an expected start to the UK’s Brexit process this month. Data is also in focus with some mixed results in the Eurozone’s members and the UK.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open lower. US non-manufacturing data is due. Fed chair Janet Yellen speaks this afternoon.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	21,002.97 (-0.53 per cent)	+4.64 per cent	+23.96 per cent
TSX Composite	15,536.65 (-0.40 per cent)	+0.39 per cent	+18.39 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,360.35 (-0.30 per cent)	+2.39 per cent	+20.06 per cent
German DAX	12,017.54 (-0.35 per cent)	+3.14 per cent	+23.23 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,427.86 (-0.21 per cent)	+1.88 per cent	+12.08 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,469.17 (-0.49 per cent)	+2.91 per cent	+14.79 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
55.26 (+0.33 per cent)	52.73 (+0.23 per cent)	1228.60 (-0.35 per cent)	U$0.7456
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7558

China’s top lawmakers are worth billions
Several billionaires will be joining China’s top legislature the National People’s Congress this week, along with Beijing’s top advisory board.

CNN reports that the combined financial power of China’s 209 richest lawmakers is U$500 billion, far more than the US Congress, although their political power is weaker than Congress.

The Hurun Report, which lists China’s richest, reveals that those wealthy lawmakers have a combined wealth that is greater than the GDP of Sweden, Nigeria or Belgium.

The single richest is tech CEO Pony Ma Huateng, co-founder of Tencent, with a $24 billion net worth.