BANGKOK — Asian shares and U.S. futures were mostly lower Friday after stocks pushed broadly higher on Wall Street.
Japan reported relatively strong economic data for the previous quarter, before the government began tightening coronavirus restrictions as cases surged.
“Retail sales, industrial production and employment all rebounded strongly in June, pointing to a sizeable recovery in activity in between the alpha- and delta-driven coronavirus waves,” Capital Economics said in a report.
However, the current situation has Japanese officials sounding the alarm as Tokyo has reported record-breaking coronavirus cases for two straight days with the Olympics well underway.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said new cases are soaring across the country at an unprecedented magnitude.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 JP:NIK fell 1.5% to 27,352.78 while the Kospi KR:180721 in Seoul gave up 1.1% to 3,208.01. The Hang Seng HK:HSI in Hong Kong declined 2.4% to 25,675 and the Shanghai Composite index CN:SHCOMP dropped 0.9% to 3,381. China’s CSI 300 index XX:000300 slid 1.3% to 4,781. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 AU:XJO edged 0.1% lower to 7,409.40. Shares edged higher in India, Singapore and Indonesia but fell elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note BX:TMUBMUSD10Y remained relatively stable. It edged lower to 1.26% from 1.27% late Thursday.
Stocks on Wall Street bounced back from a two-day slide Thursday, placing the S&P 500 on pace for its second straight weekly gain.
The S&P 500 index SPX rose 0.4% to 4,419.15, powered by broad gains. It is just below its most recent record high.
The modest rally came as the latest government data showed continued economic growth and investors reviewed another batch of mostly positive corporate earnings reports.
Online brokerage Robinhood HOOD made an underwhelming debut on the Nasdaq, closing at $34.82, or 8.4% below its offering price of $38, which was the low end of its expected range.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rose 0.4% to 35,084.53, while the Nasdaq COMP added 0.1%, to 14,778.26. The Dow and Nasdaq also hovered just below their record highs set on Monday.
Helping ease some concerns on Wall Street about the pace of the economic recovery, the Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew at a solid 6.5% annual rate last quarter. The economy’s total size has now surpassed its pre-pandemic level. It also revised its figures for 2020, showing that the economy contracted by a slightly smaller amount than previously reported.
The latest GDP figure fell short of economists forecasts for 8.5% growth, but investors largely brushed off the wide miss.
There also was encouraging news on the broader employment picture, which has tended to lag the rest of the recovery. Claims for unemployment benefits dropped by 24,000 to 400,000 last week, the Labor Department reported.
Yum Brands YUM, which owns KFC and Taco Bell, rose 6.3% after strong customer demand helped it handily beat Wall Street’s profit and revenue forecasts. Ford F rose 3.8% after the automaker reported a surprise second-quarter profit on sales of its pickup trucks and SUVs.
Facebook FB fell 4% and weighed down the S&P 500’s communications sector after it warned of slower growth through the rest of the year.
Amazon AMZN skidded 6.2% in extended trading after the internet retail giant reported mixed results for the second quarter after the market closed.
In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 46 cents to $73.16 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil declined 50 cents to $74.60.
The U.S. dollar rose to 109.53 Japanese yen USDJPY from 109.48 yen on Thursday. The euro EURUSD fell to $1.1880 from $1.1889.