European Markets Are Mixed, Asian Markets Closed Way Up

MIKE BIRD

 OCT. 29, 2014

Food52/James Ransom

European equities indices are mixed this morning, after a strong night in Asia.

Here’s the scorecard, so far:

France’s CAC 40 is up 0.19%

Spain’s IBEX is down 0.16%

Italy’s FTSE MIB is down 1.43%

Germany’s DAX is up 0.65%

Britain’s FTSE 100 is up 0.43%

Asian markets had a good trading day and closed way up. The Nikkei finished up 1.46%. The Hang Seng closed up 1.27%.

US futures are basically flat: The S&P is up 0.25 points and the Dow is down 13 points. 

Mortgage lending figures from the Bank of England are out at 5:30 a.m. ET, which should give some indication of the health of the housing market in September. Analysts are expecting a slight dip.

From the US later, the major scheduled news is the Federal Reserve’s announcement on rates and QE at 2 p.m. ET. Most importantly, despite the volatility of recent weeks, they are expected to taper the last of the country’s quantitative easing purchases and end QE3. 

European Markets Are Sliding

MIKE BIRD

 OCT. 20, 2014

REUTERS/Andres Stapff

It’s looking like we didn’t see the end of volatility during last week’s sell-offs. So far, it’s been another rocky morning already, and European markets are down. Here’s the scorecard:

France’s CAC 40 is down 0.89%

Spain’s IBEX is down 1.04%

Italy’s FTSE MIB is down 0.92%

Britain’s FTSE 100 is down 0.32%

Germany’s DAX is down 1.00%

Asian markets are up. After a massive sell-off last week week, good news for investors from the world’s largest pension fund drove the Nikkei up 3.98% overnight. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is currently up 0.30%

US futures are up too. The S&P is 0.41% higher and the Dow is up 0.40%.

Italian industrial orders for August just out showed a 3.2% drop from the same month last year, and a German release showed a 4.7% increase in tax income for the government this September. But not everything is great for Germany: Lufthansa’s pilot strike spread to long-haul journeys Monday and grounded thousands of flights. 

There’s nothing much data-wise coming from the US today, but after trading, at 10 p.m. ET, there’s a series of major releases out of China. Analysts are expecting a 1.8% rise in GDP figures for the third quarter, along with a 7.5% and 11.8% increase respectively for industrial production and retail sales during the year to September.