A negative start to May around the world, so will it continue today with investors starting to eye what is forecast to be a miserable April jobs report in the US on Friday night?
The Aussie market will start down around 7 points after the sell-off in global markets on Friday.
That was after the ASX 200 slid 5%.
In fact it was an ugly start to the month as investors showed disappointment with earnings from big tech companies and with President Donald Trump’s threat to impose import tariffs on China in retaliation for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After April’s gains – the best on record for many markets – Friday’s global sell-off especially was a timely reminder to investors not to get ahead of themselves in their optimism.
The Dow fell 622.03 points, or 2.6%, to end at 23,723.69, while the S&P 500 lost 81.72 points, or 2.8%, to settle at 2,830.71. The Nasdaq retreated 284.60 points, or 3.2%, closing at 8,604.95.
After gains Monday through Wednesday, losing sessions Thursday and Friday left the benchmarks with losses on the week, with the Dow and S&P off 0.2% and the Nasdaq ending the week 0.3% lower.
Eurozone shares were closed Friday (as were some Asian markets such as China) for the May Day holiday.
But the Stoxx 600 still managed a 4.2% gain for the week.
Japanese shares rose 1.9% for the week and Chinese shares rose 3%.
While the Australian share market fell a sharp 5% on Friday it still managed to eke out a 0.1% gain for the week.
Bond yields fell in Europe, Japan, and Australia but they rose slightly in the US.
Oil prices rose on signs of improving demand, copper prices fell and the iron ore prices rose slightly.
The $A rose as the $US fell. The Aussie though retreated on Friday as fears of risk returned. The currency ended at 64.18 US cents, up half a cent over the week.
The US manufacturing activity fell to an 11-year low in April as factories were closed to comply with mandated shutdowns.
The latest survey of manufacturing activity fell to 41.5% last month from 49.1% in March. This was the lowest since April 2009.
The ASX 200 finished Friday down 276 points or 5.01% at 5245.9.
All sectors finished in the red but it was energy and financial stocks that dragged the most, down 6.8% and 5.6% respectively.
