Asian Stocks Drop, Yen Falls to Lowest Since 1990: European and American Equity Futures Declined
following weakness in Asian markets,
with Meta Platforms Inc.’s disappointing outlook highlighting
potential risks of volatility during an important earnings week.

Content

Decline in Futures and Indices

U.S. Economic Data

Yen Movements

Meta Data

Main Market Movements

Decline in Futures and Indices

The Euro Stoxx 50 contract fell by 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures dropped by 0.8%.
Major stock indices in South Korea and Japan fell by over 1%.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, declined by 15% in U.S. after-hours trading
after projecting second-quarter sales below expectations and increasing its annual spending estimates.

U.S. Economic Data

In addition to earnings, traders will closely monitor U.S. economic growth
figures and the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge to solidify their policy expectations this week.
For weeks, markets have been scaling back the number of expected rate cuts from the Fed.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict that GDP likely
cooled to around 2.5% in the first quarter,
with the figures still potentially indicating persistent inflationary pressures.

Yen Movements

The yen extended losses on Wednesday after weakening beyond 155 per dollar
for the first time in over three decades,
increasing the chances of intervention before the Bank of Japan’s policy decision on Friday.

The yen depreciated to as weak as 155.74 per dollar on Thursday, a new 34-year low versus the dollar.

The BOJ is expected to keep its interest rate settings unchanged on Friday,

while the currency’s plunge makes it more likely that the bank will soften its stance on keeping policy easy.

“It is expected that Ueda’s press conference will take a hawkish tone,
and even if the yen’s depreciation doesn’t accelerate,
the government is likely to intervene at the same time and strengthen the yen by about 5 yen,”
said Eiji Dohke, a strategist at SBI Securities.
He said the first intervention would likely be in the trillions of yen,
followed by smaller long-term purchases.

Meta Data

“Meta’s not-so-upbeat outlook sent markets running for cover after hours,
which also immediately brought caution to Asian markets
already hobbled by a ‘higher for longer’ Federal Reserve and concerns about China,”
said Vishnu Varathan, chief economist for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho Bank in Singapore.

Main Moves in Markets

Stocks

S&P 500 futures fell 0.7%
Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) fell 2.1%

S&P/ASX 200 futures fell 0.8%

Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.2%

Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1.3%

Currencies

The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 155.73 per dollar

Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
The Australian dollar rose 0.2% to $0.6509

euro was little changed at $1.0709
The British pound was little changed at $1.2470

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 0.2% to $64,184.01

Ether rose 0.8% to $3,155.96

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.1% to $82.93 a barrel

Spot gold was little changed

Asian Stocks Drop, Yen Falls to Lowest Since 1990

Asian Stocks Drop, Yen Falls to Lowest Since 1990

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