Saha Entertainment | Digitalvision | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Japanese and Australian markets are poised for a muted start on Thursday, after choppy trade on Wall Street overnight as data pointing to a contraction in the U.S. economy in the first quarter heightened investors’ fears of a looming recession.<\/p>\n
Several Asia-Pacific markets were closed\u00a0for the Labor Day holiday.<\/p>\n
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225<\/a> was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 36,335 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 36,260, against the index’s Wednesday close of 36,045.38.<\/p>\n The country’s central bank is widely expected to stand pat on interest rates at 0.5% in its two-day monetary policy meeting, which concludes later in the day.<\/p>\n Futures tied to Australia’s\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a> index stood at 8,114, pointing to a slightly lower open compared to its last close of 8,126.20.<\/p>\n U.S.\u00a0futures jumped<\/a> after two of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks \u2014 Meta Platforms<\/a> and Microsoft<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 posted their quarterly results.<\/p>\n In extended trading, shares of\u00a0Meta advanced more than 4% on\u00a0stronger-than-expected<\/a>\u00a0revenue in the first quarter. Meanwhile,\u00a0Microsoft’s shares\u00a0surged 8%, after delivering better-than-expected results<\/a> on the top and bottom lines in the fiscal third quarter, as well as strong results from its Azure cloud business and upbeat guidance.<\/p>\n Overnight stateside<\/a>, the\u00a0S&P 500<\/a>\u00a0and the 30-stock\u00a0Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a> notched their seventh consecutive winning day despite the volatility.<\/p>\n The broad-based market index advanced 0.15% to close at 5,569.06, while the Dow Jones index added 141.74 points, or 0.35%, settling at 40,669.36.<\/p>\n