LONDON: US and UK futures slid along with Japanese and Australian shares, and the dollar climbed, after sobering comments from Amazon and Apple about the impact of the coronavirus, Bloomberg reported.
Amazon.com warned of a possible second-quarter loss, while Apple omitted an earnings forecast for the first time in more than a decade. While global stocks posted their best month since 2011 in April — spurred by a slowdown in coronavirus infections and massive stimulus initiatives — earnings announcements and economic data are serving a reminder of lasting pain.
The dollar halted a four-day slide and Treasuries recouped some recent losses amid the risk-off tone Friday. The yuan retreated. Trading was limited by holidays across much of the Asian region, and most of Europe will also be shut.
Strong results from Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and Tesla Inc. had limited losses on the tech-heavy Nasdaq gauges on Thursday. The S&P 500 Index posted its best month since 1987.
Meanwhile, oil headed for its first weekly gain in a month as global production cuts began to take effect.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- Futures on the S&P 500 dropped 1.7% as of 7:07 a.m. in London after the index fell 0.9% Thursday.
- FTSE 100 futures declined 1.4%.
- Japan’s Topix Index fell 2.2%.
- Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 slumped 4.2%.
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%.
- The euro was little changed at $1.0959.
- The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.2561.
- The Japanese yen was little changed at 107.04 per dollar.
- China’s offshore yuan was down 0.7% at 7.1327 per dollar.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell about three basis points to 0.61%.
- Australian 10-year yields slipped to 0.87%.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1.7% to $19.15 a barrel.
- Gold fell 0.7% to $1,675 an ounce.
