Benchmarks rose in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Tokyo and Sydney declined. U.S. futures and oil prices also fell.
The future for the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged less than 0.1% lower. On Friday, the S&P 500 lost 0.3% while the Dow gave up 0.6%. The Nasdaq composite edged 0.1% lower and the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks rose 1.2%. “The releases of the latest indicators from China did little to quell concerns about the lethargic state of economic activity,” Tim Waterer of KCM Trade said in a report. .He added that “with deflationary troubles brewing for the world’s second largest economy, one wonders how long it will be before the central bank steps in to provide something more meaningful on the stimulus side.”
On Friday, Wall Street drifted to a mixed finish after data suggested the U.S. job market is still warm enough to keep the economy growing but maybe not so hot that it stokes inflation much higher. U.S. employers added 209,000 jobs last month, a slowdown from May’s hiring of 306,000.