Markets were mixed on Friday after earnings results in Europe and the United States either boosted or dragged indices down on the day. European markets were mostly down with the German DAX losing 0.21% on Friday after “Nokia (HE:NOKIA) revised its full-year results outlook downwards, while its Swedish competitor Ericsson (BS:ERICAs) reported a 62% decline in Q2 profit, although it still surpassed expectations. Additionally, the troubled real estate group SBB announced a wider pretax loss in Q2 and revealed plans to sell properties worth more than SEK 3 billion to tenants,” reported Trading Economics.
At 18h00 local time Wall Street was trading in the green after “shares of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) were up more than 1% after the bank beat estimates for both earnings and revenue. Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) surged more than 2% after reporting a rise in profit, and UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) gained about 4% after reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenue. On the other hand, shares of BlackRock fell 1.20% after earnings topped estimates but net inflows fell short of expectations. Citigroup (NYSE:C) was also lower (-0.3%) after reporting a drop in net income,” Trading Economics added.
The local bourse closed up by 0.56% on Friday, supported by the resource and industrial sectors. The rand weakened somewhat at 18h00 local time, trading at R18.10/USD, R23.72/GBP and R20.34/EUR.
Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China closed up on Friday after “PBoC deputy governor Liu Guoqiang said China's central bank has ample policy tools, including using RRR, and will step up ‘counter-cyclical’ adjustments to spur economic recovery,” stated Trading Economics. However, markets in Japan closed lower amid caution from investors ahead of the policy meeting by the Bank of Japan and their upcoming earnings season.
At 18h00 local time gold fell slightly, trading at $1 958.06 an ounce, while Brent crude traded at $80.06 a barrel at the same time.
This week investors can expect the financial results from US companies like Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), to name a few, while the South African Reserve Bank is expected to raise local interest rates by 25 basis points this Thursday.