Shares fell Friday in Europe and Asia after Japan reported its economy grew less than earlier estimated in the last quarter.
Germany’s DAX shed 0.5% to 15,636.59 and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.5% to 7,159.49. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.4% to 7,415.45.
The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials edged 0.1% higher.
Japan, the world’s third largest economy, grew at a 4.8% annual pace in the April-June quarter, below the earlier estimate of 6% growth, according to data released Friday.
Much of that growth was driven by exports, which rose nearly 13%, while private consumption fell 2.2% on weak investment spending. A separate report showed that wages declined in July for the 16th straight month, falling 2.5% from a year earlier.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.2% to 32,606.84, while the Kospi in Seoul lost less than 1 point, to 2,547.68.
Hong Kong’s markets were closed due to a tropical storm.
The Shanghai Composite index shed 0.2% to 3,116.72, while the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% to 7,156.70.
On Thursday, Wall Street slipped in mixed trading Thursday as the threat of high interest rates continued to dog Big Tech stocks.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% and Nasdaq composite was hit particularly hard by the drop for tech stocks, sinking 0.9%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average held up better than the rest of the market because it has less of an emphasis on tech. It rose 0.2%.
High interest rates drag stock prices, especially those of technology companies and others that have been bid up on expectations for high growth far in the future. Many of those stocks also tend to be the most influential on the S&P 500 because they’re the biggest.
Investors remain concerned over whether the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates high or raise them further if inflation does not continue to subside.
In other trading Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 32 cents to $86.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It added 67 cents on Thursday.
Brent crude, the pricing basis for international trading, declined 22 cents to $89.70 a barrel.
The dollar rose to 147.43 Japanese yen from 147.30 late Thursday.
The euro was trading at $1.0713, up from $1.0697.
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