Nasdaq futures trade 0.24% lower at 8,434 before the market open as traders remain concerned and wait for retaliation from China after Presiden Donald Trump signed into law the legislation which supports the Hong Kong protesters. Earlier this week President Trump commented that the USA and China are close in signing a trade agreement. Dow Jones Industrial futures trading 0.18 lower at 28,096, the S&P 500 futures trading 0.21% lower at 3,147 in what I expect to be a quiet trading session without any significant data release and thin volumes due to Thanksgiving holiday.
Asian stocks finished lower; the Hang Seng slumped 2.03% at 26,316, the Nikkei 225 finished 0.49% lower at 23,293; while the Shanghai Composite ended 0.61% lower at 2,871.
European stocks trade mixed, the European Monetary Union Unemployment Rate came in at 7.5% in line with expectations for October, while the European Monetary Union Consumer Price Index (year over year) came in at 1% topping forecasts of 0.9% in November. The Dax index is 0.01% higher after the Germany Unemployment Change came in at -16K, below projections of 5K in November. The adjusted unemployment rate remained at 5.0%. On the other hand, we have a big miss as the Germany Retail Sales (month over month) came in at -1.9% below forecasts of 0% for October, the yearly reading came in at 0.8% also below expectations of 1.1%.
CAC 40 trading 0.16% higher at 5,922 after the France Consumer Price Index (year over year) came in at 1.2% topping forecasts of 1.1% in November. The France Gross Domestic Product GDP, quarter over a quarter, came in at 0.3% in line with estimates. In London, the FTSE 100 trades 0.43% higher.
In forex markets, the EURUSD trades 0.09% lower at 1.0998 below the support at 1.10 mark; the AUDUSD is 0.09% higher at 0.6775 after the Australia HIA New Home Sales (month over month) came in at -0.5%, below forecasts of 6.6% in October.
USDJPY continues higher at 109.55 despite positive data from Japan, the Japan Consumer Confidence Index came in at 38.7 topping expectations of 35.4 in November. The Housing Starts (year over year) came in at -7.4% above forecasts of -7.6% in October.
In commodities markets, Crude Oil prices consolidate around 2-month highs ahead of OPEC meetings, while Gold prices trade 0.07% higher at $1,456.
Cryptocurrencies continue the rebound from six-month lows, Bitcoin BTCUSD holds above $7,400, as the bounce is intact, while Ethereum trades 1.09% higher at 152.60 and Litecoin adds 2.34% at 48.01.