Futures listed on the New York Stock Exchange showed little movement as trading for the year 2024 got underway. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the benchmark S&P 500 were little changed, while those listed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.2%.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index edged 0.2% higher, while in Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.6%. This came after Chinese President Xi Jinping made a rare acknowledgment that numerous large companies in the country endured a turbulent year of trading in 2023. Also placing pressure on the Chinese economy is the cancellation of US-bound shipments by semiconductor manufacturing equipment supplier ASML Holding NV, at the request of US President Joe Biden.
Elsewhere, yields on U.S. and German bonds rose higher by more than five basis points each as markets boosted their bets on the Federal Reserve introducing less than 150 basis points of interest rate cuts over the course of 2024.