Australia

Australian shares are set to rise in opening trade, as Wall Street gained on Thursday in thin summer trading as investors reviewed a batch of economic data and awaited the annual gathering of US central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

ASX futures were up 6 points or 0.08% at 6981 as of 7:00am on Friday, pointing to a gain at the open.

Stocks have mostly fallen in recent sessions as money managers await Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech in Wyoming on Friday. Some expect him to make the case for plowing ahead with interest-rate rises to curb decades-high inflation, a stance that could take the wind out of the rally that took off in mid-June. Another item on the list of investors' concerns is a major slowdown in China's economy.

Investors are placing bets on how Mr. Powell's tone will come off and whether it indicates big rate increases are still to come. The S&P 500 gained 1.4% Thursday and the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1%.

Some analysts say stocks are likely to encounter more volatility after Mr. Powell's address. "I'm very skeptical of whether this better tone, and this softer dollar, can hold after the Fed speech," said Jane Foley, senior foreign-exchange strategist at Rabobank. "Even if it's not quite as hawkish as the uber-hawks are expecting, it's still going to be quite hawkish."

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil slipped 1.6% to $US99.64 a barrel, gold edged up 0.4% to US$1,757.89.

In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds rose to 3.01% while the 10 Year rose to 3.67%. Overseas, the yield on 2 Year US Treasury notes rose to 3.37% and the yield on the 10 Year US Treasury notes was rose to 3.03%

The Australian dollar hit 69.78 US cents up from the previous close of 69.07. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies edged down to 99.49.

Asia 

Chinese shares ended the day mixed, amid continued worries over the country's worst heat wave in six decades. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.0% to 3246.25, while the Shenzhen Composite slipped 0.2% to 2155.14 and the ChiNext Price Index dropped 0.4% to 2667.30. Developments relating to economic measures will likely remain in focus, after the country's State Council announced a policy stimulus package to boost an economy that has been weighed by Covid-19 curbs, a downturn in the property sector and power shortages, said CBA strategist Carol Kong. "In our view, how much the stimulus can flow to the real economy will largely hinge on local governments' implementation of the policies," she said.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 3.6% to 19968.38 in today's half-day session, logging its biggest one-day gain in almost four months. The market rebounded from Wednesday's five-month closing low after Beijing pledged more measures to support economic growth. Tech shares jumped, with the Hang Seng Tech index climbing 6.0% to 4268.54. JD.com surged 11%, while Alibaba Group, Baidu and Meituan each advanced at least 8%. China Mengniu Dairy gained 9.2% after 1H profit rose 27% on year. China Tourism Group ended flat in its market debut. The morning session was canceled due to a typhoon alert.

Japanese stocks end higher, led by gains in tech and pharmaceutical stocks, thanks partly to bargain hunting following recent selloffs caused by fears about more Fed tightening. Fujitsu Ltd. climbs 2.9% and Daiichi Sankyo gains 4.6%. The Nikkei Stock Average rises 0.6% at 28479.01. Economic data are in focus, including U.S. weekly jobless claims due later in the day, ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday. USD/JPY is at 136.70, compared with 137.13 as of Wednesday 5 p.m. Eastern Time. The 10-year Japanese government bond yield rises half a basis point to 0.225%.

Europe

The pan-European STOXX Europe 600 Index is up 1.31 points or 0.30% today to 433.36, the German DAX is up 51.90 points or 0.39% today to 13271.96, while the French CAC 40 Index is down 5.20 points or 0.08% today to 6381.56.

Meanwhile, in London, the FTSE 100 is up 8.23 points or 0.11% today to 7479.74 as oil and mining stocks gain on the back of higher crude and metal prices. Harbour Energy, the North Sea oil & gas company formed from the merger of Chrysaor Holdings with Premier Oil last year, advanced 10% after reporting increased first-half pretax profit and revenue thanks to higher oil and gas prices.

BP and Shell also rose as the price of Brent crude climbs 0.8% to $101.16 a barrel. Meanwhile, Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore and BHP Group are among the biggest mining risers as gold and silver prices increase and most base-metal prices also make progress. Elsewhere, Irish building-material supplier CRH gained 4% after reporting higher first-half pretax profit.

North America

Investors are placing bets on how Mr. Powell's tone will come off and whether it indicates big rate increases are still to come. The S&P 500 gained 1.4% Thursday and the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1%.

Some analysts say stocks are likely to encounter more volatility after Mr. Powell's address. The annual symposium gets under way Thursday. Mr. Powell is due to speak Friday followed by European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel on Saturday.
Mr. Powell's comments will set up the debate between Fed officials for their next policy meeting Sept. 20-21, which is likely to focus on whether to raise rates by half a percentage point or 0.75 point. Officials agreed at their meeting last month they needed to continue raising interest rates, but they signaled greater caution about the pace of future increases.

On top of the rate increases, the central bank is likely to accelerate the shrinking of its balance sheet around the September meeting, which could weigh on the economy more than investors had expected, said Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private wealth at Glenmede.

"Our belief is that we're not out of the woods here," Mr. Pride said. "It actually takes longer than that for the economic impact of excess inflation, Fed rate hikes and monetary policy shifts to be felt within the economy and by corporations in terms of how they react and how they guide estimates on the street."

Thin summer trading may be leading to exaggerated moves, analysts said. Just 8.84 billion shares in stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and two smaller exchanges changed hands Wednesday -- the lowest volume since New Year's Eve 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Shares of electric-vehicle maker Tesla fell 0.35% after a 3-for-1 split of the company's shares took effect late Wednesday. Peloton Interactive plunged 19% after the pandemic darling posted a quarterly loss of $1.2 billion. Snowflake's shares surged 23% after the cloud-software beat revenue forecasts for the recent quarter.

Elsewhere on the economic front, labor-market data showed that new claims for unemployment benefits fell to 243,000 last week, from a revised 245,000 the week before.
Adding pressure to the fast-cooling housing market, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage climbed to 5.55% this week, the highest level since June.