SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – European stock markets bounced back Wednesday from the sell-off triggered by lower growth forecasts. Asian shares mostly fell and oil plumbed fresh lows.
KEEPING SCORE: Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.6 percent to 6,491.68 and France’s CASC 40 climbed 0.8 percent to 4,164.11. Germany’s DAX rose 1 percent to 9,260.48. U.S. stock markets were set for a day of gains. Dow futures rose 0.3 percent and S&P 500 futures gained 0.4 percent.
OIL SLUMP: Benchmark U.S. crude hit a fresh three-year low at $76.74 a barrel, down 46 cents. The contract fell $1.59 to $77.19 on Tuesday. Oil prices have been in slump since the summer and the price of oil fell further Tuesday after Saudi Arabia decided to sell its oil at bargain prices to the U.S. in a bid to maintain its market share amid a boom in U.S. production.
THE QUOTE: “While there is certainly a lot of noise out there, I feel little has really changed and the key themes will remain a data dependent approach to Fed tightening expectations and what happens with the ECB and its easing measures,” said IG strategist Stan Shamu. “While oil prices have been a talking point lately, following sharp declines, they could easily snap back and just as easily spike once the current driving forces are out of the way. As a result, I don’t find this to be a huge investment threat.”
EU GROWTH: The European Union cut its already low economic growth forecasts further on Tuesday to 0.8 percent for this year from a prediction of 1.2 percent made in the spring. Next year’s growth forecast for the 18 country euro currency bloc was reduced from 1.7 percent to 1.1 percent. German Chancellor Angela Markel said the situation in the euro zone is “extremely fragile.” Unemployment in the European Union is expected to decrease, but at a painfully slow rate.
ASIA’S DAY: Asia closed mostly lower with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 0.6 percent at 23,695.62. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.2 percent to 1,931.43 while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was nearly flat at 5,517.90. Markets in mainland China and Taiwan also fell while Singapore and India were slightly higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 erased losses in the afternoon, finishing up 0.4 percent at 16,937.32.
SOFTBANK SLIDE: Shares of Japanese telecommunications and internet company Softbank fell 2.3 percent in Tokyo after its quarterly financial report showed that its recent acquisition of U.S. carrier Sprint Corp. would weigh on its operating earnings. Sprint is eliminating 2,000 jobs, or about 5 percent of its staff, to cut $1.5 billion in annual spending. It reported a reported a $765 million loss last quarter.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 114.55 yen from 113.69 yen late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.2496 from $1.2548.