TOKYO — Shares skidded Thursday in Europe and Asia but to a more moderate degree than the gyrations that shook global markets earlier this week.
France’s CAC 40 gave up 1.2% to 7,176.23, while Germany’s DAX lost 0.8% to 17,475.03. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 1.1% to 8,078.72. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.3%.
Thursday will bring the latest numbers on Americans filing for unemployment benefits in the first snapshot of the U.S. labor market since last week’s deeply disappointing jobs data for July sent financial markets spiraling on fears that the economy might be edging toward a recession.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 finished at 34,831.15, down 0.7%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2% to 7,682.00. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.5% to 2,556.73.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose nearly 0.1% to 16,891.83. The Shanghai Composite was virtually unchanged at 2,869.90.
Taiwan’s Taiex dropped 2.0% as computer chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. lost 2.6%, tracking losses in the tech sector on Wall Street and elsewhere.
Some semiconductor equipment makers and related companies saw further losses. Advantest Corp. dropped 4.1% and Disco Corp. sank 4.1%. But Lasertec Corp.’s stock jumped 22.6% after it reported a 28% jump in its net profit for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Although Wall Street slumped on Wednesday, the decline wasn’t as bad as the manic moves that wracked worldwide markets earlier in the week.
Japanese officials moved Wednesday to calm concerns over potential rate hikes after an increase in its key rate pushed the yen higher against the U.S. dollar, contributing to heavy selling on Monday, when the Nikkei suffered its worst percentage loss since 1987.
The Japanese yen was relatively stable Thursday. The dollar fell to 146.09 Japanese yen from 146.72 yen. The euro cost $1.0929, up from $1.0927.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.8% and the Dow fell 0.6%. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1%.
Strong earnings are supporting the markets even as concerns deepen over the trajectory for the U.S. economy following last week’s relatively weak jobs data. And solid earnings reports from the biggest U.S. companies have been rolling in. The growth for those in the S&P 500 index may end up being the best since 2021, according to FactSet.
The expectation on Wall Street is for the Fed to cut its main interest rate at its next scheduled meeting next month by either the traditional quarter of a percentage point or a more severe half of a point.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 54 cents to $74.69 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 63 cents to $77.70 a barrel.