Australia

Please note: we will be discontinuing the Global Markets Report after 28 February.

Australian shares are set to open lower, after US benchmarks ended mixed on earnings.

ASX futures were down 0.21% or 18 points as of 8:30am on Friday, suggesting a lower open.

US stocks ended narrowly mixed as investors digest the latest round of corporate earnings ahead of the January payrolls report.

Honeywell shares fell 5.6% as the company prepares to split into three independent companies. Eli Lilly gained 3.3% on a 45% climb in revenue driven by Mounjaro and Zepbound. Hershey rose 4.4% on strong results, though surging cocoa prices will hurt performance this year.

Weekly jobless claims were higher than expected. Economists are looking for the January jobs gain to fall to 169,000 from December's 256,000.

DJIA slipped 125 points, or 0.3%, to 44,747, S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 6,083 and the Nasdaq added 0.5% to 19,791

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was down 0.54% to US$74.21 a barrel, while gold was down 0.41% to US$2,855.62.

The Australian dollar was at 62.82 US cents, down from its previous close of 62.83.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.3% to 3,270.66, and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 2.3% to 1,964.55.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 1.4% to 20,891.62.

Japanese shares closed higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 0.6% to 39,066.53.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX fell 0.3% to 78,058.16.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index rose 1.2% to 8,727.28.

In Europe, shares closed higher. Germany's DAX rose 1.5% to 21,902.42, and France's CAC 40 increased 1.5% to 8,007.62.

North America

U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA fell 0.3% to 44,747.63, the S&P 500 increased 0.4% to 6,083.57, and the Nasdaq gained 0.5% to 19,791.99.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Tapestry Inc TPR surging 12.05%, Philip Morris International Inc PM jumped 10.96%, and Palantir Technologies Inc PLTR lifted 9.77%.

The biggest decliners were Skyworks Solutions Inc SWKS which dropped 24.70%, Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc HII fell 18.20%, and Hologic Inc HOLX lost 10.18%.