Tech Lifts U.S. Stock Futures; Dollar Extends Drop: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — U.S. equity futures climbed after stellar earnings from technology giants, while the dollar extended this month’s slide amid renewed concern about the strength of the American recovery. Asian shares retreated.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq contracts advanced as Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Facebook Inc. jumped in after-hours trading. Stocks underperformed Friday in Japan and Australia, with Tokyo due to report record infections and amid a warning curbs in Melbourne could be tightened. Shares in China, Hong Kong and South Korea were modestly lower. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is on track to match its worst month in a decade, while Treasuries inched higher.

On Thursday, U.S. shares closed lower as data showed the economy had its sharpest contraction on record, while the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased. Meantime, President Donald Trump floated the idea of delaying the Nov. 3 election until after the pandemic eases.

As earnings continue to roll in, investors mulled figures that highlighted the long struggle toward a full global economic recovery. In China, manufacturing data for July indicated a slow mend for Asia’s largest economy, while a recent spike in infections signals a patchy U.S. recovery.

“It’s shocking no matter how you look at it,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Schwab Center for Financial Research. “The virus is getting worse in a lot of areas, and some places have started to shut back down again. If you look at earnings in terms of beat rates, the results have actually been pretty good, granted the expectations bar has been set very low.”

Elsewhere, oil clawed back some of its retreat seen in the wake of the weak U.S. economic data. Gold remained near $1,960 an ounce.

Here are some key events coming up:

Results from Chevron Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. are due Friday.

These are some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

Futures on the S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 11:15 a.m. in Tokyo, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.9%. The S&P 500 earlier decreased 0.4%.Japan’s Topix index slipped 1.8%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3%.Shanghai Composite fluctuated.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 1.9%.Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2%.

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.3%.The euro bought $1.1889, up 0.4%.The yen was at 104.31 per dollar, up 0.4%.The offshore yuan traded at 6.9939 per dollar, up 0.1%.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries slipped three basis points to 0.52%.Australia’s 10-year yield fell three basis points to 0.83%.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude added 0.2% to $40.01 a barrel.Gold was at $1,969.22 an ounce, up 0.6%.

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