Markets mixed, “trend remains bearish”

Markets were mixed on Friday.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.6 percent but the STOXX Europe 600 dipped 0.1 percent.

Earlier in Asia, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 percent but the Shanghai Composite fell 0.1 percent.

Mark Newton, managing member at Newton Advisors, said in a note that “there are still no real signs of strength” and that “the trend remains bearish”.

“After a buoyant and hopeful summer, financial markets are cooling in the face of reality,” strategists at MRB Partners said in a note.

In the meantime, Europe continues to battle a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, with the UK and France reporting their most daily cases on Thursday and Spain considering imposing a total lockdown on the capital Madrid.

“New restrictions in Europe, less fiscal support, fading liquidity impulse and election risk should weigh on activity in Q4,” European equity strategists at Barclays wrote in a note.