Asian Stocks Fall Ahead of U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls
Asian stocks fell on Friday as Wall Street traders navigated a slump amid volatile tariff headlines.
Shares in Australia and Japan fell more than 1% in opening trade while equity index futures for Hong Kong slumped. The declines for the Japanese benchmarks reflected souring risk sentiment and a rally in the yen on Thursday.
The S&P 500 fell 1.8% and the Nasdaq 100 dropped 2.8%, with the tech-heavy gauge on the verge of a technical correction. U.S. futures partially retraced losses early Friday after Broadcom Inc. gave an upbeat revenue forecast. The chipmaker reassured investors that spending on artificial intelligence computing was still going strong, pushing its shares about 15% higher in after-market trading. In a sign of fragile sentiment during regular trading on Thursday, U.S. stocks failed to stage a rebound after President Donald Trump’s decision to delay levies on Mexican and Canadian goods covered by the North American trade deal. The prospect of tariffs ratcheting up added to the gloomy mood on Wall Street ahead of Friday’s nonfarm payrolls data.
“Right now, trade policy is dominating the market action,” said Chris Larkin at E*Trade of Morgan Stanley. “Until the tariff smoke clears, it could continue to be a bumpy ride for traders and investors.”
The after-hours rally spread to technology companies, which were among the hardest hit on Thursday. Nvidia Corp. and Marvell Technology Inc., which fell during the main session as their outlooks disappointed investors, rose after the bell. Trump exempted Mexican and Canadian goods covered by the North American trade agreement known as the USMCA from his 25% tariffs through April 2. The move was the latest in a series of stop-start levies aimed at those countries. Subsequent comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent all but confirmed that the tariffs were coming. Bessent dismissed the idea that the tariff hikes would trigger a new wave of inflation, suggesting that the Federal Reserve should view them as a one-off. Treasury bonds advanced at the short end of the curve on Thursday but were otherwise little changed.
The dollar index fell for a fifth session, its longest losing streak in nearly a year. The Mexican peso and Canadian dollar rose on news of a potential tariff suspension. Australian and New Zealand yields fell on Friday morning. In Asia, China’s central government has ample fiscal policy tools and room to respond to potential domestic and external challenges, Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo’an said Thursday on the sidelines of the annual legislative session. The People’s Bank of China will pursue moderately loose monetary policy, Governor Pan Gongsheng said, reiterating previous pledges to cut interest rates and lower the reserve requirement ratio for lenders at an “appropriate time.” Elsewhere in the region, data due out includes inflation for Thailand and Taiwan and foreign exchange reserves for China and Singapore.
Source: Bloomberg
