TOKYO –
Global shares were mixed on Monday amid persisting worries about energy shortages and weaker than expected jobs growth in the U.S.
Shares fell in Paris, Frankfurt and Sydney but rose in Tokyo and London. Shanghai was flat.
Surging demand has collided with supply and shipping constraints, among other factors, pushing energy prices sharply higher and causing power outages in China and some other major economies.
France’s CAC lost nearly 0.3% in early trading to 6,541.64, while Germany’s DAX shed 0.3% to 15,166.39. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 7,105.14. The future for the Dow industrials fell 0.3% to 34,522.00. The future contract for the S&P 500 was down 0.4% at 4,364.75.
The release of weaker than expected U.S. employment figures pulled share prices on Wall Street lower Friday. The jobs report showed employers added just 194,000 jobs last month, well short of the 479,000 that economists had anticipated.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.8% from 5.1%, and the government revised past months’ hiring numbers higher. But last month’s hiring was still the weakest since December 2020. Average wages also rose a bit faster from August than expected, which helps workers but adds to worries about inflation.
This week, attention on Wall Street turns to inflation numbers due out on Wednesday, and upcoming corporate earnings.
In Asian trading on Monday, Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6% to finish at 28,498.20 after Japan’s new prime minister, Fumio Kishida, backed away from comments suggesting he favored raising taxes on capital gains and dividends. The possibility of such an increase had spooked investors after he took office on Oct. 4.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.3% to 7,299.80. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 2.0% to 25,325.09, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching down less than 0.1% to 3,591.71. South Korean markets were closed for a national holiday.
Revving up the world’s third largest economy remains an important mission for Kishida, but he is widely seen as the choice of the old guard of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has dominated politics since World War II. Some critics say change is needed if the nation hopes to remain competitive, especially when the pandemic has created new kinds of problems, ranging from shifts in work styles to supply shortages.
The rally in Japan could be short-lived. Like Europe, Asia is seeing fuel shortages that could hinder recoveries from the pandemic.
“The energy crisis also continues, with India and China both flagging blackouts that will hit supply chains from another angle, and China seeing massive flooding in the coal-producing region it is relying on to keep the lights running,” RaboResearch said in a market commentary.
U.S. benchmark crude jumped $1.99 to $81.34 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose $1.05 to $79.35 on Friday. Brent crude, the international standard, gained $1.67 to $84.06 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 112.88 Japanese yen from 112.21 yen. The euro cost $1.1574, up from $1.1571.
