Benzinga | Oct 31, 2013 03:49AM ET
The Bank of Japan released its semiannual outlook report on Thursday in which the bank predicted that core consumer prices will rise by 1.9 percent in the fiscal year starting April 2015.
The estimate was unchanged from July’s expectations, but many private-sector economists are disputing the forecast. Many believe that the years of deflation Japan has suffered will keep the inflation rate at 1 percent and that the bank will need to make more policy changes in order to combat it.
Top News
In other news around the markets:
Asian Markets
Asian markets fell on Thursday, the Japanese NIKKEI was down 1.20 percent, the Shanghai composite lost 0.87 percent and the Shenzhen composite fell 1.18 percent. The South Korean KOSPI had the largest losses, down 1.43 percent.
European Markets
Europe’s markets also slipped as worrisome inflation data weighed on sentiment. The UK’s FTSE fell 0.36 percent and the eurozone’s STOXX 600 lost 0.11 percent. The German DAX was down 0.24 percent and France’s CAC 40 lost 0.20 percent.
Commodities
Energy futures were lower, Brent futures lost 0.42 percent and WTI futures were down 0.14 percent. Precious metals also tumbled with gold down 1.12 percent and silver down 2.88 percent. Industrial metals were mostly higher with Aluminum up 0.52 percent but copper down 0.63 percent.
Currencies
The dollar got a boost from the possibility that the Fed could taper sooner rather than later. The euro lost 0.25 percent against the dollar and the pound was down 0.09 percent against the American currency. The yen was up 0.23 percent against the dollar and the Australian dollar gained 0.31 percent against the greenback.
Earnings
Notable earnings released on Wednesday included:
Pre-Market Movers
Stocks moving in the Premarket included:
Earnings
Earnings reports expected on Thursday include:
Economics
Thursday’s economic calendar is a busy one with several US and European releases including US initial and continuing jobless claims, Italian CPI and PPI, the eurozone unemployment rate, French consumer spending and the Spanish current account.
BY Laura Brodbeck
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