Asia stocks fall on Europe woes, U.S. earnings; Nikkei down 1.01%

Investing.com - Asian stocks fell Wednesday amid ongoing concerns that Spain will require a bailout, while disappointing earnings in the U.S. further pushed equities down.

During Asian trading on Wednesday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.37%, Australia's S&P/ASX200 was down 0.38%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index was down 1.01%.

Disappointing U.S. earnings drove the market.

Earlier, U.S. logistics giant UPS reported earnings per share of USD1.16 in the second quarter, up from USD1.09 per share in the same period a year ago. 

Revenue rose to USD13.35 billion from USD13.19 billion though it missed the USD13.7 billion forecast by the Thomson Reuters calls, which really sparked selling.

Apple reported that its fiscal third-quarter earnings excluding items hit USD9.32 per share, up from USD7.79 a share in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue rose 23% to USD35 billion from USD28.57 billion a year ago.

Analysts calls put earnings at USD10.37 a share on USD37.22 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

Meanwhile in Spain, borrowing costs continue to soar to new heights for the government.

The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds rose earlier to a euro-era high of 7.60%, well above the 7% threshold considered unsustainable by the markets.

Eurozone policymakers recently allocated EUR100 billion for Spain to prop up its banking sector and regional governments as well, though markets quickly brushed off the good news and decided the country is suffering from too much debt and not enough growth as a whole, and will need a lifeline itself.

Disappointing output data in Europe fueled the risk-off trading session as well.

The Markit research group reported that its preliminary German manufacturing purchasing managers’ index dropped to 43.3 in July from a final reading of 45.0 in June.

Markets were expecting the index to increase to 45.3.

Meanwhile, Markit's manufacturing index for the eurozone as a whole contracted at its fastest pace since May of 2009, dropping to 44.1 in July from 45.1 in June, below a 45.3 forecast.

Fears of a near European meltdown eclipsed otherwise positive output data out of China, where the country's HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers index jumped to 49.5 in July, its highest level since February, and up from a final reading of 48.2 in June. 

A decision by the Moody's ratings agency to lower its outlooks for Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg to negative from stable also kept stocks at bay.

Japan, meanwhile, reported that its trade balance fell less than expected in June.

The Ministry of Finance said that the country’s trade balance fell to a seasonally adjusted -0.30T, from -0.62T in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from -0.66T.

Analysts had expected the trade balance to fall -0.39T last month.

Meanwhile in Australia, the consumer price index rose less than expected.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that Australia's trimmed mean consumer price index rose to a seasonally adjusted 0.5% in the second quarter, up from 0.3% in the preceding quarter.

Analysts had expected Australian trimmed mean consumer price index to rise 0.6% in the last quarter.

Meanwhile, Australia's consumer price index was up 1.2% on year in the April-June quarter.

In Hong Kong, top decliners included Hengan INTL, down 3.04%, CITIC Pacific, down 3.02%, and China Resources Power, down 2.76%.

In Australia, top decliners included Western Areas NL, down 5.03%, APN News & Media, down 4.67%, and Karoon Gas Australia, down 4.63%,

European stock futures indicated a mixed opening.

France's CAC 40 futures pointed to a loss of 0.08%, while Germany's DAX 30 futures signaled a loss of 0.30%. Meanwhile, in the U.K., the FTSE 100 futures indicated a gain of 0.02%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.09% while the S&P 500 futures were down 0.29%.

Later Wednesday in the eurozone, the Ifo Institute for Economic Research is to release data on German business climate, a leading indicator of economic health.

Also Wednesday, the U.S. is to publish official data on new home sales, a leading indicator of economic health, as well as data on crude oil stockpiles.