GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian markets look for fresh upswing after U.S. market dip

By Pete Schroeder
July 17 (Reuters) - Asian markets appear set to open with a
firmer tone on Friday, shrugging off an overnight fall in U.S.
stocks as the United States prepares to debate fresh economic
stimulus to see the country through its coronavirus outbreak.
Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures YAPcm1 were up 0.23% in
early trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 futures NKc1 were up 0.24%,
and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures .HSI HSIc1 had risen
0.74%.
E-mini futures for the S&P 500 EScv1 were up 0.2%.
Attention is quickly turning to how the United States might
adopt further stimulus to help steer the world's largest economy
through a worsening coronavirus pandemic.
Congress is set to begin debating such a package next week,
as several states in the South and West implement fresh lockdown
measures to curb cases. New data showed strong growth in U.S.
retail sales, but questions abound about whether that can
continue.
"The sustainability of this rebound will be determined to a
large degree by whether another fiscal deal is reached," said
ANZ bank analysts in a note.
Further complicating matters is an increasingly tense
relationship between the United States and China.
Now, the Trump administration is considering banning travel
to the United States by all members of the Chinese Communist
Party, according to a person familiar with the matter.
In the United States, that tension and difficulties reducing
the spread of coronavirus weighed on markets. New data from the
U.S. Labor Department found 1.3 million people filed for jobless
benefits, largely unchanged from the prior week. U.S. retail
sales jumped 7.5%. "What worries us about the U.S. economy is initial jobless
claims remained stuck at a high level of 1.3 million last
week. In our view, the weak labour market will be a headwind to
a further strong snap-back in the U.S. economy," wrote
Commonwealth Bank of Austrialia in an analyst note.
Netflix Inc NFLX.O kicked off major tech earnings by
forecasting it would add just 2.5 million new paid streaming
customers in the third quarter, below the 5.3 million analysts
predicted, sending shares tumbling in after-hours trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.5%, the S&P
500 .SPX lost 0.34% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
0.73%. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS
closed down 0.62%.
Treasury yields fell and gold eased, though gold futures
contracts remained above $1,800 an ounce. The 10-year Treasury
note US10YT=RR fell 1.2 basis points.
With stocks declining, the safe-haven U.S. dollar rose
modestly in a broader risk-off move. The U.S. dollar index
=USD , which measures the currency against a basket of six
rivals, was last up 0.31% The Australian dollar rose 0.04% versus the greenback at
$0.697.
Oil prices fell 1% on Thursday after OPEC+ agreed to ease
record supply curbs and new infections of the novel coronavirus
surged in the United States. Brent LCOc1 fell 42 cents, or 1%,
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