European markets mixed ahead of Dow opening
Associated Press
LONDON — Europe's stock markets were mixed Monday but traded above earlier lows on predictions Wall Street would open higher, despite concerns about the global economy following another profit warning from Toyota Motor Corp.
The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 6.38 points, or 0.2 percent, at 4,293.31 but Germany's DAX was down 22.74 points, or 0.5 percent, at 4,673.96. The CAC-40 in France fell 26.85 points, or 0.8 percent, to 3,199.05.
All three European indexes had been between 1-2 percent lower earlier in the session but expectations of a bounce-back on Wall Street helped them recover.
Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 40, or 0.47 percent, to 8,573. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 2.90, or 0.33 percent, to 884.20, while Nasdaq 100 index futures dipped 0.25, or 0.02 percent, to 1,210.75.
Wall Street has shown some signs of relative stability in the last few weeks. Since reaching multiyear lows on Nov. 20, the Dow is up 13.6 percent and the S&P 500 is up 18 percent.
Though global equities have made gains in three of the last four weeks following the preceding crash, analysts remain wary amid the mounting economic gloom around the world.
Adrian Pankiw, analyst at Henderson Global Investors, noted that the rally has been led by consumer discretionary stocks at a time when global unemployment was on the rise.
"Such rallies have proved unsustainable in previous bear markets," he said.
The problems the world economy is about to face in 2009 were put in sharp relief earlier by the warning from Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, that it will likely post an operating loss of 150 billion yen ($1.66 billion) in the year to end-March, the first such loss since Toyota began reporting such numbers in 1941.
In the markets, Toyota is perceived as one of the world's best manufacturers — and if it is experiencing times as bad as it says, then others will likely fare even worse, the reasoning goes.
Industrial orders data for the euro-zone earlier confirmed that manufacturing activity fell sharply in October and added to the evidence that the recession in the 15-nation single currency zone is deepening.
Eurostat revealed that industrial orders plunged by a monthly 4.7 percent in October for a 15.1 percent year-on-year decline. Most countries posted declines including industrial heavyweights Germany and France.
Earlier, Asian markets were mixed as Friday's announcement from the outgoing Bush administration to extend General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC $17.4 billion in loans brought a measure of relief to some investors.
But early gains in Asia soon faded amid worries about the U.S. and global outlook, as well as shrinking demand for Asian-made products like cars and electronics that keep the region's economies growing, analysts said. In Japan, new figures showed a record 26.7 percent plunge in exports last month compared to a year ago.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 3.3 percent to 14,874.61, while South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.1 percent. Singapore, Australia and mainland China benchmarks were each down over 1. 5 percent.
Tokyo bucked the downward trend, with its Nikkei 225 stock average rising 135.26 points, or 1.6 percent, to 8,723.78 despite the latest bad news about the country's exports.
Japanese investors seemed focused instead on the U.S. auto industry bailout, helping buoy Honda 5.4 percent and Nissan 2.7 percent, and the country's recent efforts — including an interest rate cut Friday — to counter the recession.
Oil prices rose slightly with the February contract up 54 cents at $42.90 in European trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In currencies, the dollar strengthened 0.7 percent to 89.90 yen while the euro rose 0.5 percent to $1.3981.