Asian markets gain after Japan central bank boosts aid - MarketWatch | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Business

Asian markets gain after Japan central bank boosts aid – MarketWatch

Published

 on


BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets gained Monday after Japan’s central bank promised more asset purchases to shore up financial markets as investors look to central bankers to support the struggling global economy.

Tokyo’s benchmark surged 2.4% and Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney also gained.

Investors also are looking ahead to meetings of U.S. and European central banks this week for signs of more measures to reverse the deepest global slump since the 1930s. The meetings this week come as mounting evidence shows the coronavirus pandemic’s economic damage is even worse than expected.

The Bank of Japan said it will buy an additional 15 trillion yen ($140 billion) of commercial paper and bank loans. It also lifted its ceiling on purchases of Japanese government bonds, which it has been buying for years to help stave off deflation in Japan’s shrinking and aging economy.

That is a “significant increase from the timid 2 trillion yen” in purchases announced in March, Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics said in a report.

Elsewhere, the U.S. Federal Reserve is more likely to announce it will wait to see the impact of earlier stimulus measures before taking more action, Hayaki Narita of Mizuho Bank said in a report. The European Central Bank “will likely keep its options for easing open.”

This week’s other potentially market-moving events include data from the United States, China, Japan, Germany and France on inflation, trade, industrial activity and retail spending.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7% to 2,828.13 and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225
NIK,
+2.70%

rose 2.4% to 19,722.13. The Hang Seng
HSI,
+1.90%

in Hong Kong added 1.6% to 25,223.06.

In Seoul, the Kospi was 1.6% higher at 1,919.21. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.7% to 5,278.30. Singapore advanced 1.3%.

Investors appear to be trying to look past the outbreak and figure out which companies can survive and prosper after economic conditions improve. China, where the pandemic began in December, has reopened factories and other businesses after numbers of new cases declined.

Spain, Italy and Belgium have announced plans to ease restrictions and other governments including the United States are looking at whether and how to reopen.

President Donald Trump, in the midst of a re-election campaign, is pressing state governors to ease anti-disease controls as early as possible. Spain plans to start easing restrictions on Sunday and Italy on May 4. France will announce its plans next month.

Some U.S. governors have begun lifting shutdown orders despite warnings that could cause a surge in infections, while others including Gov. Andew Cuomo of New York say they want to see a bigger decline in new cases before rolling back curbs.

Wall Street ended last week higher after President Donald Trump signed legislation to provide an additional $500 billion in virus aid, including loans to small businesses.

U.S. government data showed an unexpectedly sharp 14.4% drop in durable goods orders.

That added to grim numbers that are denting investor sentiment, which economists have warned is far too optimistic.

The S&P 500 Index gained 1.4% to 2,836.74. The U.S. benchmark is down 16.2% from its February record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1% to 23,775.25. The Nasdaq composite added 1.7% to 8,634.52.

“Investors have written off 2020 as a shocker and are looking more intently into the landscape in 2021,” Chris Weston of Pepperstone said in a report.

They are due to get more indicators how that future might develop when companies including Exxon, Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing and McDonald’s start reporting quarterly results this week.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude for June
CL.1,
-13.81%

delivery lost 99 cents to $15.95 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 2.7% on Friday to settle at $16.94. Brent crude, used to price international oils, declined 17 cents to $24.64 per barrel in London. It added 0.5% the previous session to $21.44 per barrel.

The dollar was unchanged at 107.49 yen. The euro
EURUSD,
+0.20%

held steady at $1.0823.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)



Source link

Business

Netflix’s subscriber growth slows as gains from password-sharing crackdown subside

Published

 on

 

Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.

The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.

Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.

The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.

The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.

The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.

The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.

Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.

In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.

“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.

As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.

Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Business

All Magic Spells (TM) : Top Converting Magic Spell eCommerce Store

Published

 on

Product Name: All Magic Spells (TM) : Top Converting Magic Spell eCommerce Store

Click here to get All Magic Spells (TM) : Top Converting Magic Spell eCommerce Store at discounted price while it’s still available…

All orders are protected by SSL encryption – the highest industry standard for online security from trusted vendors.

All Magic Spells (TM) : Top Converting Magic Spell eCommerce Store is backed with a 60 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee. If within the first 60 days of receipt you are not satisfied with Wake Up Lean™, you can request a refund by sending an email to the address given inside the product and we will immediately refund your entire purchase price, with no questions asked.

(more…)

Continue Reading

Business

Turn Your Wife Into Your Personal Sex Kitten

Published

 on

Product Name: Turn Your Wife Into Your Personal Sex Kitten

Click here to get Turn Your Wife Into Your Personal Sex Kitten at discounted price while it’s still available…

All orders are protected by SSL encryption – the highest industry standard for online security from trusted vendors.

Turn Your Wife Into Your Personal Sex Kitten is backed with a 60 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee. If within the first 60 days of receipt you are not satisfied with Wake Up Lean™, you can request a refund by sending an email to the address given inside the product and we will immediately refund your entire purchase price, with no questions asked.

(more…)

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version