The morning after the night before

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Ankur Banerjee

After the central bank triple-header (that’s the Fed, ECB and BoE) buoyed risk appetite and emboldened investor hopes of the end of the massive global tightening cycle came the Big Tech triple-header to revive worries over global economic conditions.

Dour fourth-quarter results from Apple, Google-parent Alphabet and Amazon are likely to cast a shadow on the markets on Friday before the crucial non-farms payroll data is released later in the day.

Analysts expect 185,000 jobs were added last month and the report will likely paint a clearer picture of the labour market in the United States.

With the market facing up to the reality of the economic downturn, Asian stocks eased with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan 0.7% lower and set to end the week in the red after five consecutive weekly gains. The dollar firmed, while gold steadied.

Meanwhile, Adani Group shares continue to bleed with market losses now over $115 billion (for the seven listed Adani firms)in the wake of a scathing report from U.S short-seller Hindenburg that came out on Jan. 24. The meltdown in share prices have stoked fears of wider impact on the Indian equities.

A bright spot for the market was a private sector survey that showed China’s services activity in January expanded for the first time in five months, sending business confidence to near 12-year highs.

Even amidst the dire earnings reports from U.S. bellwethers there was a hint of hope that consumer spending was beginning to rebound in China.

Key developments that could influence markets on Friday:

Economic events: Euro zone, UK, Germany S&P Global business surveys, U.S. non-farm payrolls data

Speakers, ECB’s Christine Lagarde and BoE’s Huw Pill to talk in separate events

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)