China HSBC manufacturing PMI was released throughout the night with global markets taking a hit after the worse than expected figure came in at 48.3, significantly lower than consensus of 49.5. The Hang Seng and the Nikkei were all trading down after the data was released. The AUD/USD has slightly reversed to claw back some of its losses that occurred throughout the night, currently trading around 0.8960 after hitting lows of 0.8937 on our charts.
Facebook last night revealed they are to purchase mobile messaging giant Whatsapp Inc. for a disclosed sum of around $19bn. The fee is set to be paid by $4bn in cash, $12bn in stock and $3 in restricted shares.
Looking towards the day ahead, we have quite a busy economic calendar that will test global markets, starting with European flash manufacturing and services figures set to be released this morning. Over in the US, unemployment claims will be released this afternoon with a forecast of 335k followed by Core CPI and the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index. European Index futures are all trading lower just before the open.