SYDNEY- Asian share markets and the dollar made a cautious start on Monday as confusion over US trade policy showed little sign of easing, in a week packed with major economic data and mega-tech earnings.
While US President Donald Trump has claimed progress is being made on trade with China, and many other countries, actual evidence is lacking. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent failed on Sunday to back Trump’s assertion that tariff talks with China were under way.
“The uncertainty itself is at least as damaging as the tariffs themselves, hurting the US economy at least as much as the rest of the world,” said Christian Keller, head of economics research at Barclays.
“Even if the ongoing earnings season still shows robust numbers, many companies will likely prepare to hunker down until visibility improves,” he warned. “This makes a recession increasingly likely.”
Early action in markets was light, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edging up 0.1 percent. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.9 percent, while South Korea firmed 0.2 percent.
EUROSTOXX 50 futures added 0.3 percent, while FTSE futures and DAX futures both rose 0.2 percent.
Going the other way, S&P 500 futures dipped 0.4 percent in early trade, while Nasdaq futures eased 0.5 percent. The S&P has bounced almost 12 percent from the April 8 trough, but remains 10 percent below its peak.
Corporate earnings have been generally supportive, with gains of more than 9 percent, though BofA noted 64 percent of companies had beat on EPS compared to 71 percent the previous quarter.
About 180 S&P 500 companies representing over 40 percent of the index’s market value report this week, including mega-caps Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms.
The week is also packed with economic news including US employment, gross domestic product and core inflation.
