US stock markets dropped at the open today, mostly thanks to a sell-off in tech stocks, especially FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google). The S&P500 is still stuck below 2500 points.
One of the few stocks moving up was General Motors, which saw another bump in its share price to over $40 after Deutschebank elevated their forecasts for the company and analysts upgraded the stock to a 'buy' from a 'hold'. The bank cited optimism about GM's autonomous vehicle production as the key reason. GM has had a good week.
In commodities today, the price of Brent Crude is at a 9-month high of over $58 per barrel! Major OPEC producers have said that the market is well on its way towards rebalancing, implying the price could go even higher.
Across Asia when markets closed today the NIFTY50 and FTSE Hong Kong indices suffered the most.
The former, India's key index, has struggled to stay above the 10,000 mark consistently for any length of time, and is proving to be highly sensitive to political events abroad, such as North Korean missile launches and nuclear threats over recent weeks. Equity markets in India have seen losses for 5 straight trading sessions.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (pictured) has called a snap election in an attempt to consolidate his power. He also announced a 2 trillion Yen stimulus package on education, debt reduction and social spending, according to a report from the BBC.
Abe's economic policy (known as Abenomics) won him his second term in office, and has boosted Japanese economic growth and led to lower unemployment, while the key TOPIX index has also surged over the past 5 years amidst more favourable economic conditions. Despite this, critics of Abe argue that Japanese influence on the world stage is fading under his leadership.
