U.S. Futures Lower Amid Latest Attack in France; Asia Opens Higher
U.S. stock futures were strongly negative Thursday evening amid an apparent terrorist attack in the French city of Nice, at the height of the tourism season. The negative sentiment comes amid fresh highs on U.S. markets and weren't echoed by Asia, where Japan opened stronger Friday.
Futures for the S&P 500 were off 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.18% and Nasdaq 0.21% at 9:06 p.m. EDT.
A driver crashed a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day, France's version of the Fourth of July, on Thursday evening, killing at least 75 and wounding scores more in the beach resort in southern France. French officials quickly labeled the incident as an attack but have yet to release information on the driver, who they said was shot by police.
The attack overshadows an otherwise exuberant week on U.S. markets where traders shook off fears of the U.K.'s exit from the EU and heralded positive economic indicators. The S&P 500 closed up 0.53% to a record 2,163.75 Thursday, the Dow 0.73% at a best-ever 18,506.41 and the Nasdaq up 0.57% at 5,034.06, inching closer to its high-water mark of 5,046.86.
New York investors took their confidence from better-than-expected results from JPMorgan (JPM) - Get Report and a decision by the Bank of England on Thursday to leave interest rates there at 0.5%. Traders had expected the BoE to slash rates by 25 basis points to give the U.K. economy a bump following the Brexit vote.
Still, the central bank's nonaction didn't reassure investors in London enough since the bankers specifically cited concerns over the island's housing industry. The FTSE closed 0.24% lower.
The pound continued its slow recovery, gaining 0.48% against the dollar at 9:19 p.m. EDT to $1.3391.
Meanwhile, in Germany, a reported deal for BASF's (BASFY) agricultural unit by Monsanto (MON) in a bid to ward off unwanted suitor Bayer, the German aspirin inventor, helped the Dax end the day 1.39% higher. France's Cac ended the day 1.16% higher prior to the apparent attack.
Asian stock markets opened mixed Friday morning as investors awaited a slew of data on the Chinese economy. The Nikkei added 0.46% in Tokyo, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong 1.1% and South Korea's Kospi 0.34% as of 8:48 p.m. EDT.
Travel companies were among the biggest losers in extended trading in New York with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) - Get Report paring 2.97%, to $41.50, American Airlines Group (AAL) - Get Report losing 1.39%, to $35.38 and travel booking site Expedia (EXPE) - Get Report trimming 0.98%, to $114.
Office supply company Staples (SPLS) also fell 2.19% in extended trading to $8.92 as investors continue to price in the dissolution of its proposed megamerger with Office Depot ODP and plans to shutter up to 50 North American stores this year in the face of competition from Amazon AMZN.