HONG KONG (AP) – World stock markets were uneven Friday and Wall Street futures slid ahead of quarterly growth figures that will show whether weakness in China, Japan and Europe has hit the U.S. economy.
KEEPING SCORE: European markets swung between gains and losses in early trading. France’s CAC 40 was down 0.3 percent to 4,617.72 and Germany’s DAX was little changed at 10,738.14. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.6 percent to 6,772.63. U.S. stocks were set to open with a thud. Dow futures lost 0.7 percent to 17,311. Broader S&P 500 futures were down 0.6 percent to 2,006.80.
U.S. ECONOMY: Investors were looking ahead to U.S. Commerce Department’s release later Friday of the first of three estimates of growth in the world’s biggest economy. The University of Michigan’s monthly consumer sentiment index for January is also due. A FactSet survey of analysts forecast that the U.S. economy grew 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter. The U.S. zoomed ahead in the third quarter while Europe, Japan and China struggled. The fourth quarter report will show whether the momentum continued or succumbed to global headwinds.
JAPAN GLIMMER: Japan’s industrial output edged higher in December, suggesting the world’s third-largest economy may be turning the corner on a recession brought on by a hefty sales tax hike. Manufacturing output increased 0.3 percent in December from a year earlier and by 1 percent from the month before. Japan’s jobless rate dipped to 3.4 percent from 3.5 percent the month before. But stagnant wages meant household spending dropped 3.4 percent from a year earlier.
ANALYST VIEW: “Japanese manufacturing activity continues its steady recovery, thanks to strong demand from overseas,” HSBC economist Izumi Devalier said in a report. “The electronics and auto industries have been the key beneficiaries of the improvement in external demand, especially from the United States.”