Asian Markets and Wall Street Amid Disappointing Earnings & Pandemic Concerns

Asian shares were mixed yesterday as the coronavirus cases globally continue to increase, and companies report far-from-expected earnings.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 1% after Fitch Ratings downgraded its outlook for Japan from “stable” to “negative”. Nissan Motor Co., in turn, reported a loss for the first fiscal quarter, and projected to remain negative for the second year straight. The renowned camera company - Canon, and the leading robot manufacturer - lso had also reported weak results.

The Nikkei 225 gave up 1%, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 remained flat, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite were up 0.32% and 1%, respectively.

Things have been heated on Wall Street too, amid expectations of the outcome of the US Federal Reserve Policy Meeting, which had begun earlier in the week, with the announcement scheduled today. Investors expect the Fed to keep short-term rates at their current near-zero level, but the question of how long they are to be kept at this historical low is troubling.

S&P 500 had lost 0.6%, while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq saw a 0.8% and a 1.3% fall, respectively. 

The mood was hardly made better by major tech giant losses. Amazon had shed 1.79%, Apple - 1.64%, Facebook - 1.44% and Google - 1.68%. Investors are now looking at a testimony from the tech CEO’s to a House of Representatives committee, investigating Big Tech’s market dominance.

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