Japan’s Nikkei Index Falls 7.3% for Several Reasons; Europe and U.S. Indexes Dip after Japanese Nosedive; JPMorgan Voters Keep CEO Dimon

Japan’s Nikkei Index Falls 7.3% for Several Reasons (YahooFinance)

The Japanese stock market’s single-largest, one-day loss since the 2011 tsunami featured a 7.3 percent plunge yesterday that was blamed on lower-than-expected Chinese manufacturing figures for April, the Federal Reserve’s lack of a clear message on continuing quantitative easing and spiking Japanese bond prices. Elsewhere in the Far East, markets generally pulled back. The only exceptions were Sri Lanka’s index and the S&P Asia 50 CME, which both showed gains for the day.

Europe and U.S. Indexes Dip after Japanese Nosedive (Bloomberg)

Following on the heels of Japan’s 7.3 percent market loss earlier today, European markets and U.S. market index futures also lost ground. At the time of this writing, England’s FTSE 100 was down more than 1.8 percent, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 had slipped more than 2.4 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.  In the United States, DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all traded down this morning but were trimming their losses late this morning. How the rest of the day plays out remains to be seen.

JPMorgan Voters Keep CEO Dimon (NewYorkTimes)

In a somewhat unexpected, one-sided vote, JP Morgan Chase shareholders overwhelmingly backed Jamie Dimon as both CEO and chairman of the world’s largest bank. Roughly 70 percent of those voting backed Mr. Dimon’s continued role, despite one of the most expensive trading gaffs in market history (the so-called Whale Trade) occurring on his watch. With this vote behind them, Mr. Dimon and associates now can set their sights on rebuilding JPMorgan’s damaged relationship with the regulating community. As part of that effort, Morgan is set to hire 1,000 new employees by year’s end to bulk up the staff of its compliance department. With this situation settled for the moment, Morgan investors can get back to counting profits.