In This Article:
* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Nikkei down early, S&P 500 futures ease back
* Corporate earnings, factory surveys loom for the week
* U.S. May crude futures slide on supply glut
By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY, April 20 (Reuters) - Caution gripped Asian share markets on Monday on expectations a busy week of corporate earnings reports and economic data will drive home the damage done by the global virus lockdown, while U.S. crude prices took an early spill.
Japan reported its exports fell almost 12% in March from a year earlier, with shipments to the U.S. down over 16%. Early readings on April manufacturing globally are due on Thursday and are expected to show recession-like readings.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2% in slow early trade, with a pause needed after five straight weeks of gains. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.3% and South Korea 0.1%.
E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.7%, having jumped last week on hopes some U.S. states would soon start to re-open their economies.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Republicans were "close" to getting a deal with Democrats on a support package for small business.
But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an increase of 29,916 in new infections and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,759 to 37,202.
The S&P 500 has still rallied 30% from its March low, thanks in part to the extreme easing steps taken by the Federal Reserve. The Fed has bought nearly $1.3 trillion of Treasuries alone, and many billions of non-sovereign debt it would historically have never gone near.
"The Fed will be a major buyer of risky assets in the coming months, and has displayed its willingness to backstop virtually any part of the domestic financial system in trouble," said Oliver Jones, a senior markets economist at Capital Economics.
Yet the particular composition of the S&P 500 was also a major factor, he added, as three sectors relatively resilient to a virus-induced lockdown -- IT, communications services and healthcare -- make up around 50% of the index.
Indeed, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook account for more than a fifth of the index.
"What's more, the S&P 500 is skewed towards a few ultra-large firms, some of which are also in those sectors. Their sheer size might make them better able to weather a few months of dramatically-low revenues than most."
The rebound in the S&P 500 therefore likely overstated optimism on the economy, Jones argued, noting European benchmark equities indices and U.S. small cap indices were still in bear market territory.