Weak China PMI exacerbates bearish sentiment for shares, euro Asian shares and the euro extended losses on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei poised to log its longest losing streak in two decades, as weak Chinese factory data highlighted concerns that the euro zone debt crisis will further undermine global economic growth.
The data comes amid escalating worries about Spain's banking system and the fate of Greece with the euro bloc, which are spurring a flight to safe-haven assets.
China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 50.4 in May, down from April's 13-month high of 53.3 and below the 52.2 forecast, weakness that was confirmed by a separate HSBC's PMI survey which showed the manufacturing sector contracting for a seventh month in a row.
The euro hit a fresh 23-month low against the dollar at $1.2324 and the Australian dollar fell to an eight-month low around $0.9650.
Brutal Jobs Report Eats into Obama's Re-election Hopes
A bleak May jobs report that managed to miss consensus forecasts by nearly 100,000 jobs seems sure to further hurt the political hopes of Obama, who may now have to hear the dreaded “R” word thrown around by bearish economists.
The odds of Obama being re-elected tumbled 2.7% Friday morning to $5.51 a share on Intrade, the online exchange where investors buy shares to predict political outcomes. That means they give Obama a 55.1% chance of winning in November against Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president.
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