A view of the Tokyo headquarters of the Bank of Japan.
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The U.S. jobs report on Friday was stronger than expected, showing that employment and wage growth picked up in May, and Asia-Pacific markets are set to fall on Monday.
This adds to the argument that the Fed is not in a hurry to cut interest rates, with traders seeing little chance of a rate cut either at next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting or at its next meeting on July 30-31.
In Asia this week, investors will focus on Japan’s first-quarter gross domestic product data on Monday, followed by the Bank of Japan’s interest rate decision on Friday.
Separately, May inflation data from China and India will be released on Wednesday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index Futures showed the market opening weaker, with the Chicago futures contract at 38,580 points and the Osaka futures contract at 38,670 points, compared with Friday’s closing price of 38,683.93 points.
Some Asian markets were closed for holidays on Monday, including Australia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
On Wall Street on Friday, the S&P 500 ended flat after hitting an all-time intraday high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.22% and the Nasdaq fell 0.23%.
Despite the losses, all three major stock indexes posted wins for the week. The Dow Jones Index rose 0.29% this week, the S&P 500 Index rose nearly 1.32%, and the Nasdaq Index rose 2.38% this week.
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