Resurfacing Covid threat in China, S'pore casts shadow over Asian mkts

New York: Shares slipped Thursday in Europe and Asia after a retreat on Wall Street pulled the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average back from their latest record highs. Shares fell in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Shanghai, but rose in Paris. A steady flow of corporate report cards continues Thursday with industrial bellwether Caterpillar and technology giant Apple. Amazon and Starbucks will also report their results on Thursday. Outside of earnings, investors will get an update on U.S. economic growth when the Commerce Department releases its report on third-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday. Investors are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's meeting next week to see how it moves forward with plans to trim bond purchases and its position on interest rates.

Germany's DAX edged 0.1% lower to 15,690.45 while in London, the FTSE 100 declined 0.4% to 7,221.86. The CAC 40 in Paris added 0.3% to 6,772.04. The future for the Dow industrials was 0.1% higher, while that for the S&P 500 also gained 0.1%. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7%. The Nasdaq edged up less than 0.1% and the Russell 2000 index of small companies took the heaviest losses, falling 1.9%.

In Asia, flaring cases of coronavirus in China and Singapore have added to doubts over the economic outlook, given signs that inflationary trends might lead central banks to step up moves to tighten monetary policy. In Seoul, the Kospi lost 0.5%, to 3,009.55, even after Samsung Electronics reported its highest quarterly profit in three years Thursday thanks to continued robust demand for its computer memory chips. Samsung's dual strength in parts and finished products has allowed it to flourish during the pandemic as millions of people were forced to work at home. However, the company said it was dealing with "longer-than-expected" component shortages that may affect the demand for semiconductors during the current quarter. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index sank 1% to 28,820.09. The Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged at a meeting that wrapped up Thursday while warning of downward pressure on the world's third largest economy from the pandemic.