Wall Street pointed toward small losses early Friday as markets neared the end of a tumultuous week of trading in which President Donald Trump walked back tariff threats on NATO allies who might oppose U.S. control of Greenland.
Futures for the Dow Jones industrials were off 0.2% before the opening bell, while futures for S&P 500 and Nasdaq each dipped about 0.1%.
Trump said he reached a deal with NATO on Greenland but details are sparse, leaving investors
wary of what’s to come. Nothing has been signed.
Natural gas prices settled somewhat after spiking earlier this week ahead of a winter storm that's expected pummel large swaths of the U.S. with snow and ice, potentially knocking out power for millions of people.
Intel tumbled 13% after the American chipmaker nearly doubled Wall Street's profit projections but issued disappointing guidance,, noting supply constraints that could disrupt chip production.
In Europe at midday, Germany's DAX ticked back 0.1% while the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.3%. Britain's FTSE 100 was little changed.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 picked up 0.3% to 53,846.87 after the Bank of Japan kept its key interest rate unchanged as expected. The central bank just raised the policy rate to 0.75% in December. Wrapping up its policy meeting, it also slightly upgraded its estimates for future inflation and economic growth.
“With underlying inflation price pressures remaining firm, we expect the Bank of Japan to resume its tightening cycle in the coming months,” Abhijit Surya of Capital Economics said in a commentary.
Chinese markets also saw moderate gains. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.5% to 26,749.51, while the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.3%, at 4,136.16.
South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.8% to 4,990.07. The benchmark had topped 5,000 for the first time on Thursday but fell back later in the day.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% higher to 8,860.10.
Taiwan's Taiex jumped 0.7% and the Sensex in India fell 0.9%.
Global markets have calmed following an easing of long-term Japanese government bonds, which had spiked early in the week on worries that Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi might make moves that would add heavily to the government’s already big debt.
The 40-year Japanese government bond yield slipped back after hitting a record of more than 4%. It was trading at 3.946% early Friday.
In other trading early Friday, the price of gold rose 0.6% to $4,945 an ounce. Silver gained 3.3% and was nearing the $100 level. Prices of such precious metals often rise when investors are looking for something safer to own in times of uncertainty.
U.S. benchmark crude oil added $1.13 to $60.49 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, rose $1.19 to $65.25 per barrel.
