Equity markets had a mixed first week to the start of 2019, coming off their worst year in a decade, with weak data in Asia and Europe confirming fears of a global economic slowdown while the U.S. government shutdown drags on. China’s factory activity contracted for the first time in 19 months in December, hit by the Sino-U.S. trade war, with the weakness spilling over to other Asian economies. Adding to the concerns was Apple Inc., who took the rare step of cutting its quarterly sales forecast, with chief executive Tim Cook blaming slowing iPhone sales in China. Apple is set to report their Q1 earnings release later in the month.
Key data out of the world’s second largest economy continues to come next week in the form of Chinese Consumer Price Index (inflation figures) on Wednesday at 01:30. On Thursday we will then get the Producer Price Index and more importantly, Chinese Gross Domestic Product in the early hours at 02:00. With China normally a focal gauge of economic growth, these numbers could dictate investor sentiment and the next direction for global indices such as Wall Street, UK 100 and the Germany 30.
