Asian equities were mixed on Friday as fears over Yemen and weak data from the world’s third largest economy weighed on sentiment.
Yemen’s President left the city of Aden for Saudi Arabia on Thursday after Riyadh and its allies began air strikes targeting the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The military operation saw oil prices surge 5 percent overnight, but those gains were reversed on Friday with U.S. crude and Brent both 1 percent lower. While Yemen isn’t a major oil producer, fears are high that the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, a key shipping route for oil tankers located between Yemen and Djibouti, may be closed.
Those concerns saw U.S. stocks fall for a fourth straight session on Thursday and offset data showing that jobless claims fell to a five-week low, pointing to a healthy and expanding labor market. Attention now turns to Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s speech on Friday.
Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.
Latest posts by marketpulsefxstaff (see all)
- Oil Remains Near Multi-Month Lows - 6 August 2015
- U.S. Dollar Higher on Recent Data - 6 August 2015
- Greece’s PM Tsipras: Loan Deal with Lenders Close - 6 August 2015