The FTSE 100 fell, European indexes were mixed and the US was relatively unfazed after GDP data showed the US economy growing at a rate of 1.4% year-on-year, as expected. Unemployment data also came in below consensus.
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The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) tipped into the red by Thursday afternoon, trading 0.4% lower by the close. Over in Europe, the DAX (^GDAXI) rose 0.3% and the CAC (^FCHI) fell 0.8%.
The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX), meanwhile, was almost flat.
Over in the US, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was little changed, paring earlier still-slight losses after rising Wednesday to close not far short of a new all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was also up about 0.2%.
A reading on initial weekly US jobless claims came in at 233,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week, according to the US Department of Labor data. The print came in below a consensus expectation of 235,000, but recurring jobless claims rose to their highest since late 2021, suggesting it’s taking longer for unemployed people to find a job.
The Japanese yen (JPY=X) sank to a 38-year low against the US dollar. The yen’s weakness is down to the interest rate differential between Japan and the rest of the world — Japan has kept its interest rates near or below zero, while central banks across the world have engaged in a hiking spree to try to contain the economic fallout following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The yen was trading as low as 160.8 to the dollar.
A fresh set of data from China also showed growth in the country’s industrial profits narrowed in May.
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