Wall Street, Australia’s July retail sales, U.S. jobs report

Stocks in Asia Pacific were set to fall at the open following sharp declines on Wall Street overnight.

Futures pointed to a lower open for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 23,010 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 23,070. That compared against the Nikkei 225’s last close at 23,465.53.

Shares in Australia also looked poised to slip, with the SPI futures contract at 5,993.0, as compared to the S&P/ASX 200’s last close at 6,112.60.

Investor reaction to overnight moves stateside will be watched. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 807.77 points, or 2.8%, to 28,292.73 — its biggest one-day decline since June 11. The S&P 500 slid 3.5% to 3,455.06 and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 5% to close at 11,458.10.

“There has been no obvious catalyst for the move,” National Australia Bank’s Rodrigo Catril wrote in a note. “Now the question is whether the correction has legs or whether investors are temped back in.”

On the economic data front, Australia’s retail sales data for July is set to be out at around 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Friday. That follows the June quarter gross domestic product figures released earlier this week that showed the country officially entering a recession.

Ahead of that data release, the Australian dollar traded at $0.7257 after yesterday’s fall from above $0.732.

Later Friday stateside, a closely watched U.S. jobs report is also set to be released, with economists polled by Dow Jones expecting the U.S. economy to have added more than 1 million jobs last month.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 92.739 following its bounce this week from levels below 92.

The Japanese yen changed hands at 106.06 per dollar after its weakening yesterday from the 106.5 handle against the greenback.

Here’s a look at what’s on tap:

• Australia: July retail sales data at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN
• U.S.: Nonfarm payrolls and unemployment rate for August

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