Asia Slips, Europe Steady After Nasdaq's Fall, Stimulus Deadlock

Major worldwide indices shed on Thursday, taking cues from Nasdaq's record 2% fall since October on Wednesday and a stalemate on the upcoming stimulus bill. To top that, S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Thursday it would comply with the Trump administration's order and remove China A-shares, H-shares, and ADRs of 10 companies from all equity indices before the market open on Dec. 21, and remove 11 securities issued by Chinese companies from its fixed income indices before Jan. 1. 

The Dow and the S&P 500 futures are down by 0.27% on the last check Thursday. WTI crude futures are up by 0.48% to $45.74, while gold futures are near flat at $1,839.30. Ten-year Treasury yield is down by 1.6 bps to 0.925%.

Asia: Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.23% on Thursday after the nation's PPI remained flat month-over-month and dipped 2.2% year-over-year. SoftBank Group Corp SFTBY surged 11% in Tokyo on a strong debut by DoorDash, Inc DASH.

China's Shanghai Composite benchmark managed to close up 0.04% after a three-day fall on straining U.S.-China relations. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.34%, driven lower by financials and healthcare stocks.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.67% on escalating geopolitical tensions with China. The inflation expectations from December remained unchanged at 3.5%. 

India's Nifty 50 index is down 0.78%, snapping a seven-day winning streak. M3 money supply data is due today. South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.33%.

Europe: Euro Stoxx 50 is trading higher by 0.33%, anticipating European Central Bank's interest rate decision today. The consensus is to leave the rates unchanged at 0%. 

London's FTSE 100 is up by 0.30% at press time as the nation awaits the fate of a hanging Brexit deal. Britain's GDP grew 0.4% MoM, and construction output for October rose 1% MoM.

U.K.'s October industrial production increased 1.3% MoM, and manufacturing output rose 1.7% MoM, beating the consensus on both counts. The country's trade balance deficit widened to £12 billion, worse-than-expected £9.6 billion.

Germany's DAX is near flat. France's CAC 40 is trading higher by 0.38% at publication time, driven by gains in energy and financial shares.

Spain's IBEX 35 is up by 0.29%. Spain's 10-Year Obligation Bond Auction is due later today.

Forex Trading: U.S. Dollar Index futures are up marginally by 0.02% at 91.097. The dollar has weakened 0.10% against the Euro to $1.2092 but gained 0.60% against the Sterling Pound to $1.3315, and 0.35% against the Japanese Yen at ¥104.58.

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