📆 Thursday, August 31
► Asian markets remained mixed. Japan equities saw a boost of over 1.2%. Recent Japanese data showed July's industrial production was down -2.0% m/m, underperforming the -1.4% forecast. However, retail sales showed strength at +6.8% y/y against the +5.4% forecast. Chinese stocks on the other hand saw a downward correction, despite better-than-expected PMI data. China's August Manufacturing PMI of 49.7 surpassed the forecast of 49.2 but remained in contraction territory (below 50).
► US markets closed yesterday in the green with the Nasdaq (+0.54%) , S&P 500 (+0.39%), Dow Jones (+0.11%), seeing gains. Salesforce released it's earnings after trading hours, showcasing a Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $2.12, accompanying a revenue upswing to $8.6B (+11.4% Y/Y). Market reception was positive with a +5.75% spike in shares. US equity futures remain unchanged as investors await PCE data, the Fed's preferred inflation reading and Jobs data (12:30 UTC+0).
► Today Europe will be seeing vital unemployment inflation data. France reported their Q2 YoY GDP growth at 1%. While inflation trends were worrisome, escalating to 4.8% in August up from 4.6% in July (y-o-y). In Germany, economic stress-points were evident. Retail sales for July fell by 2.2% YoY. Unemployment rate increased to 5.7% in August from 5.6% in the previous month, with an uptick in the number of unemployed individuals. Investors await the Eurozone inflation and job data (09:00 UTC+0) for more cues on it's economic health. European equities remain unchanged ahead of these data releases. Despite hot Eurozone inflation, the EUR has not been able to strengthen – partially due to weak economic data.
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