Morning Briefing: Global sentiment slips, equities lower

Global sentiment slips, equities lower
The week is drawing to a close with weaker sentiment among global investors as several issues combine including the latest press conference from Donald Trump.

Asian markets closed lower as Samsung shares dropped following the arrest of its head Jay Y Lee in connection with the South Korean presidential influence scandal. Weak tech shares were a drag on the Nikkei while mining stocks lagged on Sydney’s ASX.

Shanghai was the worst performer in the region following news of weaker foreign investment in China.

European indexes are trending lower too, as investors digest the Chinese data and weak leads from Asia and Wall Street. Weaker-than-expected UK retail data has added to the downbeat tone.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open lower. The G20 Finance Ministers meeting continues in Germany.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,619.77 (+0.04 per cent)	+4.00 per cent	+25.32 per cent
TSX Composite	15,864.17 (+0.12 per cent)	+2.74 per cent	+23.29 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,274.02 (-0.05 per cent)	+0.74 per cent	+20.62 per cent
German DAX	11,708.85 (-0.41 per cent)	+1.46 per cent	+24.86 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,421.44 (-0.57 per cent)	+2.86 per cent	+11.69 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,234.62 (-0.58 per cent)	+2.24 per cent	+21.46 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
55.48 (-0.31 per cent)	53.23 (-0.24 per cent)	1243.40 (+0.14 per cent)	U$0.7646
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7668

Megabanks among most admired firms
Fortune magazine has published its list of the world’s most admired companies which includes several ‘megabanks’.

Among the ‘all stars’ – topped by Apple, Amazon and Starbucks – JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs also make the grade.

Among the ‘megabanks’ category, JP Morgan Chase is first and is followed by Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Citigroup, HSBC and Mitsubishi UFJ.