A solid report on Chinese retail sales sparked optimism at the start of the Singles' Day holiday
Asian markets were little changed today. Traders considered a mixed bag of economic data out of China; industrial output fell short of estimates, but stronger-than-forecast retail sales sparked some mild optimism as
Singles' Day commenced. Meanwhile, following Tuesday's sharp losses for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL),
many of the tech giant's suppliers traded lower. By the close, China's Shanghai Composite added 0.3%, Japan's Nikkei tacked on 0.1%, South Korea's Kospi added 0.03%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.2%.
European stocks are comfortably higher at midday, with traders looking ahead to an afternoon speech from European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi -- who has recently adopted
a dovish tone regarding eurozone monetary policy. At last check, the German DAX has jumped 1.5%, the French CAC 40 is up over 1%, and London's FTSE 100 has climbed 0.6%.
