Japanese and Australian markets mixed Thursday after choppy trade on Wall Street overnight, as data pointing to a contraction in the U.S. economy in the first quarter heightened investors’ fears of a looming recession.
Several Asia-Pacific markets, including South Korea, Hong Kong, China and India were closed for the Labor Day holiday.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225
The country’s central bank is widely expected to stand pat on interest rates at 0.5% in its two-day monetary policy meeting, which concludes later in the day.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark edged down 0.1%.
U.S. futures jumped after two of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks — Meta Platforms and Microsoft — posted their quarterly results.
In extended trading, shares of Meta advanced more than 4% on stronger-than-expected revenue in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s shares surged 8%, after delivering better-than-expected results on the top and bottom lines in the fiscal third quarter, as well as strong results from its Azure cloud business and upbeat guidance.
Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 and the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average notched their seventh consecutive winning day despite the volatility.
The broad-based market index advanced 0.15% to close at 5,569.06, while the Dow Jones index added 141.74 points, or 0.35%, settling at 40,669.36.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite ended the day flat at 17,446.34.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
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