On Thursday, European stocks finished out their strongest month since October 2015 while today, markets in Germany, France, Italy, and other major European countries are closed for Labour Day. U.K. stocks fell on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on China over the coronavirus pandemic.
The FTSE 100 fell 2.24% to 5769.22 despite U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to lay out a plan to exit lockdowns. As for the data, the final U.K. Markit manufacturing PMI came in at the worst level for three decades in April. The index plunged to 32.6 from 47.0 in March.
US stocks opened lower on Friday as investors digested weak corporate earnings reports by Apple and Amazon. Amazon posted an operating profit of $3.9 billion for the quarter, a nearly 10% drop from this period last year. On the positive side, the retail giant recorded sales of $75.4 billion in the first three months of the year, as many consumers stepped up their online purchases during the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, Apple posted quarterly revenue of $58.3 billion, an increase of 1 percent from the year-ago quarter. Also, the company announced that it would be boosting its buyback program by $50 billion, less than previously.
In currencies, EURUSD has finally broken above the 1.10 handle for the first time in nearly a month, as the greenback retreated across the board after the USISM Manufacturing PMI data. According to the details of the report, the employment and new orders components fell below 30. As a reminder, the European Central Bank left rates and the Quantitative Easing programs unchanged but introduced a new lending scheme on Thursday. Despite the rally, the euro is yet to confirm the recent breakout on a daily closing basis.
Meanwhile, oil prices are trading marginally lower after failed attempts to break above the $27.85 region. Brent has retreated to the $26.30 area/ The market is slightly supported by the fact that today is the official start of output cuts agreed between the OPEC+ countries to counter sliding demand. Despite the upside momentum has faded, Brent looks set to finish the week on a positive footing after three consecutive weeks of losses.
Nathan Lambert, Head of Global FX Analytical Department