April 7 (Reuters) – Asian equities will be sluggish on Wednesday after Wall Street retreated from record highs in previous sessions as investors watch the coming earnings season for further signs of a recovery after a series of strong US economic data .
The three major Wall Street indices closed lower on Tuesday, a day after the S&P 500 and the Dow rose to record levels, driven by optimism from a larger-than-expected job report last Friday and data showing a dramatic setback in the US service industry show Monday.
Investors also weighed in on the latest report on U.S. opening opportunities, which showed on Tuesday that vacancies rose to a two-year high in February, while rents made the biggest gains in nine months amid increased COVID-19 vaccinations and additional government stimulus.
“We’ve had some great days in a row and I think markets want to take a break here,” said Charlie Ripley, vice president of portfolio management at Allianz Investment Management in Minnesota. “From an economic data perspective, we did not get too much information except for the opening report for jobs and the market prices reflect that.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 futures contract fell 0.1%, while the Australian S & P / ASX 200 futures market rose 0.04%.
The International Monetary Fund has raised its global growth expectation to 6% this year from 5.5%, reflecting a rapidly brightening outlook for the US economy.
According to Refinitiv data, the coming earnings season will show S&P profit growth of 24.2% over a year earlier, according to Refinitiv, and investors will see if the company’s results further confirm the recent positive economic data.
“We’re going into the earnings season and we’ll better look at the performance of companies in the first quarter, even as we leave the pandemic,” Ripley said.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.29% to 33,430.24, the S&P 500 lost 0.10% to 4,073.94 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.05% to 13,698.38.
U.S. Treasury yields fell, with 5-year notes leading the decline, on investors’ view that market prices were too aggressive at an earlier-than-expected tightening by the Fed.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 18/32 in price to yield 1.6578%, from 1.72% late Monday.
The dollar fell to a two-week low against a basket of world currencies, and traders took advantage of its strong performance in March as declining treasury yields pushed the greenback.
The dollar index fell 0.259%, with the euro 0.05% lower to $ 1.1869. The Korean victory strengthened by 0.08% against the greenback at 1,118.21 per dollar.
Crude oil prices partially declined from the losses of the previous session, lifted by strong data from the United States and China.
U.S. crude rose 1.16% to settle at $ 59.33 a barrel, and Brent settled at $ 62.74 a barrel, up 0.95% on the day.
Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; Edited by Christopher Cushing