Asian markets down as traders await Trump’s visit to Asia

Asian equity indexes mostly lower on Monday as investors assessed a political turmoil in Saudi Arabia and looked ahead to President Trump’s visit to Asia for high-impact statements.

Australia ASX -3.10 -0.05% 6,027.20 CLOSED

Shanghai Comp +16.43 +0.49% 3,388.17 CLOSED

Hang Seng Index +28.06 +0.10% 28,631.67 OPEN

Nikkei 225 +9.23 +0.04% 22,548.35 CLOSED

TSEC 50 Index -14.58 -0.13% 10,786.19 CLOSED

On the corporate front, Qatar Airways said it would be taking on more than nine and a half percent of Cathay Pacific Airways.

Over the weekend, attention was directed to Saudi Arabia, where dozens of officials were detained as part of an anti-corruption operation.

King Salman bin AbdelAziz announced the formation of a committee chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that will investigate these people alleged relations with corruption.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended in green territory at 23,525.97, while the S&P 500 added 0.27 percent and the Nasdaq Composite 0.74 percent to finish at 6764.44.

US markets were cheered by the appointment of Jerome Powell as the next Federal Reserve Chair, although the decision still requires approval from the Senate.

Powell is seen as a continuity economist that is likely to have little impact on the current monetary policy normalization process. According to Fed funds tracked by CME Group’s FedWatch, traders are pricing in nearly a 90 percent chance of a rate hike by December.

Friday’s data front was loaded with new information that shaked up equity markets a bit, including October’s employment report from the US Labor Department.

Average hourly earnings showed no change last month. Nonfarm payrolls came in at 261,000 jobs, missing an estimated addition of 310,000. The unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent, moving a tick down from the prior month.

In other news, factory orders for American-made products rose for a second-straight month in September by 1.4 percent, above an estimated 1.3 percent build and a previous 1.2 percent.

The Institute for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) increased to 60.1, a level not seen since 2005, compared to a forecasted 58.5 reading.

Ahead in today’s session, focus will be at the releases of services PMIs in Germany and the Eurozone as of 08:55 GMT and 09:00 GMT, with readings of 55.2 and 54.9 seen respectively.

Fort Financial Services