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Asian markets generally rose on Monday, in their first reaction to a U.S. jobs report that showed improving but not breakneck acceleration in the labor market of the world’s largest economy.
The
rose 0.3% in Tokyo, and the
rose 0.4% in Seoul. The
dropped 0.5%.
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The Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.1% after ending Friday at a record level.
U.S. stock futures also were weaker, after the
ended Friday at the second-highest level in history. The Labor Department reported 559,000 new nonfarm jobs were created in May, which lagged behind economists’ forecasts for a second month. Analysts at BCA Research say more workers will return to the labor market once child care and educational services reopen, and federal supplementary unemployment insurance benefits expire.
Luca Paolini,
chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management, said the possibility of high inflation coinciding with a slowdown in economic and corporate profit growth is what should concern investors, particularly as the gap between equities’ earnings yield and bond yields is at its lowest level since 2008.
Investors also were weighing the Group of Seven industrialized nations’ agreement to pursue a 15% global minimum tax for companies, though there is still a long road to implementation. Electronic retailing giant
would be excluded from the G-7 tax deal on account of its low margins, experts said.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology is holding its annual meeting on Monday, which often leads to price moves in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.
