European and U.S. equity futures pointed to losses for markets on Friday, with investors reacting to some disappointment over Apple and Amazon.com earnings, as COVID-19 tensions and pre-election jitters weighed.
German DAX DAX,
Asian market performance is a warning that “sentiment remains negative,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, in a note to clients.
“Markets will remain vulnerable to more bad news on the Covid-19 front from the U.S. and Europe, while the nuances of the U.S. election will leave equities to follow other asset classes into the hunkering-down mode,” he said.
Dow futures YM00,
Investors were weighing up results from technology giants, which reported en masse late Thursday in the U.S. Apple. Amazon.com, Facebook FB,
However, shares of Apple AAPL,
Clouds continue to hang over investors as coronavirus cases climb on both sides of the Atlantic, and U.S. politicians have been unable to reach a stimulus deal ahead of the presidential election, now just four days away.
Stocks slipped in Europe on Thursday over disappointment that the European Central Bank didn’t bring forward stimulus, despite fresh concerns over the region’s economies. Those fears have been exacerbated by one-month lockdowns announced this week by French and German governments.
The central bank did hint that it’s likely to announce more stimulus in December. Data released Friday showed rebounding growth in the third quarter for France. The eurozone’s second-biggest economy grew 18.2% following a revised 13.7% decline in the second quarter, French statistics agency Insee.