*
STOXX 600 down 0.5%
*
Rate hike worries linger
*
Real estate, miners lead fallers
*
U.S. stock futures inch lower
Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to
you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at
RATE ANGST KEEPS STOXX DOWN (0932 GMT) The downbeat global mood is spilling over to Europe in early trading on Thursday with the STOXX 600 falling 0.5% as uncertainty over the size of the next interest rate hike in the United States continues to grip investors. Most sectors were down, led by rate-sensitive real estate after Germany's LEG Immobilien suspended its dividend, citing high rates and uncertainty over the value of its real estate portfolio. Miners were also big fallers as copper prices declined. Insurers bucked the weak trend, underpinned by gains in Aviva after the company, under pressure from activist investor Cevian, hiked payouts for investors. Aerospace and defence was also in demand with BAE rising to a new record peak on optimism over submarine deals within the AUKUS security pact between Australia, the UK and the U.S..
Around 82% of the STOXX was trading in the red.
(Danilo Masoni)
*****
(Danilo Masoni)
*****
EUROPE SET FOR SOFTER START (0729 GMT) European shares were expected to open a touch lower on Thursday as investors continue to ponder the outlook for rates following remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and ahead of the closely watched U.S. jobs market report on Friday. EuroSTOXX50 and FTSE futures were both down around 0.3%, with an eye also on earnings releases that continue to trickle in as the Q4 season draws closer to an end.
Deutsche Post raised its dividend after a record 2022, but flagged a challenging year ahead, while fashion house Hugo Boss forecast 2023 sales to grow at a mid-single-digit percentage rate, slower than last year. In the UK, Harbour Energy announced a new 200-million share buyback, as higher oil prices helped the British North Sea's biggest oil and gas producer treble its cash flow. Insurer Aviva, under pressure from activist investor Cevian Capital to increase returns, unveiled a 300-million pound buyback after its operating profit rose. Eyes are also on Credit Suisse. The Swiss bank has delayed the publication of its annual report after the U.S. SEC raised questions about its earlier financial statements, in the latest blow for the company.
(Danilo Masoni)
*****
IS CHINA EXPORTING DEFLATION? (0651 GMT)
Factory-gate prices stopped falling in China last month, but
did not rise and in annual terms remain negative - a welcome
piece of news on Thursday for Western central bankers who are
starting to run into difficulty in heading off sticky inflation.
Relief wasn't immediate, as the figures were tinged by
doubt on the robustness of China's consumption rebound, with
inflation in the country also at its slowest in a year.
But with several months' data now published since the end of
China's restrictive zero-COVID-19 stance, there's some weight
behind analysts' contention that the reopening of the world's
second-biggest economy won't set off a new inflationary pulse.
Unemployment and the lack of stimulus handouts are widely
expected to keep the temperature of local demand in check, while
a global slowdown is also likely to cool price pressure on
exports.
That's likely welcomed since analysts are making their
latest upward revisions to U.S. and European interest rate
expectations and do not need another inflationary shock from
China's reopening.
European futures steadied in Asia as markets
assumed a holding pattern with the focus on U.S. data as the
driver of interest rate movement.
As some of the dust settles on U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman
Jerome Powell's hawkish testimony at Congress, Fed funds futures steadied, perhaps a signal economists - who have been
jacking interest rate forecasts toward a peak near 5.75% or 6% -
may finally have done enough. U.S. jobless claims data later on Thursday offers an entree
for a blockbuster jobs report on Friday that could make or break
market pricing for a 50-basis-point Fed hike later in March.
The Bank of Japan concludes a two-day meeting on Friday,
though it is increasingly dancing to its own beat.
A falling yen is among signs that efforts to deter
short-sellers in the bond market are working and speculation for
a policy shift at what will be Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's final
meeting in charge seems to have ebbed from earlier fever-pitch
levels.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3%; Japanese stocks rose 0.6% on Thursday.
Key developments that could influence markets on Thursday:
Economics: U.S. jobless claims Speakers: Riksbank officials AinoBunge and Per Jansson, Bank of England's Sarah Breeden, Bank of Canada's Carolyn Rogers
(Tom Westbrook)
*****
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The race to raise rates Eu open ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
