Investing.com -- The turkey is digested (just), the football is over. Now it's time to get shopping. Black Friday will throw a particularly harsh spotlight this year on department stores and apparel retailers. Better-than-expected data from the euro zone reduce the chance of stimulus from the ECB next month, while Hong Kong's stock market sold off sharply ahead of what's expected to be another tense weekend marked by protests. Here's what you need to know on Friday, 29th November.
1. Black Friday test for department stores
Will Black Friday put any more nails into the coffins of U.S. department stores? There’ll be more scrutiny than usual on the likes of JC Penney (NYSE:JCP) and Kohls Corp (NYSE:KSS) after disappointing results for the three months through September.
Apparel stores are also under pressure after a tough year – none more so than Gap (NYSE:GPS), which announced the resignation of its CEO Art Peck after a particularly grisly third quarter.
The other big unknown is whether Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) will reap enough new business to justify the massive outlays that hit its latest earnings report. Big-box retailers Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Target (NYSE:TGT) are, by contrast, expected by analysts to fare better than most, the former in particular reaping the benefits from previous investment in its online offering.
2. Hong Kong sells off as Huawei fights on
Global stocks came under pressure overnight as confidence in an imminent U.S.-China trade deal faltered in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to sign into law the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
The Shanghai Composite fell another 0.6% and the Hong Kong Hang Seng index fell 2% ahead of what is expected to be another weekend of unrest, after the relative calm of last weekend when Hong Kongers voted in droves in favor of candidates sympathetic to pro-democracy protesters.
Elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal reported that Huawei, the telecoms company at the heart of the U.S.-China trade dispute, will fight last week’s ruling from the Federal Communications Commission that further curtails its business with U.S. customers.
3. Eurozone CPI ticks up; German jobless cheer
Eurozone inflation rose by more than expected in November, according to preliminary figures released by Eurostat. That reduces the pressure on incoming European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde to take any further action at her first policy-making council meeting in two weeks’ time.
The headline annual rate rose to 1.0% from 0.7%, while the core CPI rate rose to 1.3%, its highest in over six years. That’s likely to embolden opposition to any further easing under the new regime.
There was also better news from the German labor market, where the jobless count surprisingly fell by 16,000 in November, as opposed to the 6,000 increase expected.
The euro remained stuck at around $1.1000 against the dollar.
4. Johnson promises no income tax, VAT hikes
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised not to raise income taxes or value added tax if his party wins the U.K. general election on Dec. 12. He also promised on a radio show to take the U.K. out of the EU by the scheduled date of Jan. 31 if his Conservative Party wins a working majority.
Johnson also implored Donald Trump to stay out of the election campaign when he visits the U.K. in the week before the election. Johnson’s closeness to Trump is widely seen as a vote-loser.
Even so, the Conservatives appear to be riding out a storm of controversy around false claims over their plans for spending on healthcare, helped not least by the opposition Labour Party facing similar accusations of misleading voters ahead of the poll.
5. Loonie faces test from Canada's Q3 GDP
With no U.S. data scheduled for Friday, it’s Canada’s turn to take center stage with third-quarter gross domestic product figures due at 8:30 AM ET (1330 GMT). Analysts expect an annualized growth rate of 1.2% after an anomalously high 3.7% rate in the three months to June.
The loonie has weakened to within 0.5% of what would be a five-month low the dollar in anticipation of fresh action from the Bank of Canada to support the economy.