Midnight Monitor

Reuters

• The Nikkei slipped 0.40% in Friday morning trading. Investors shifted funds from stock futures and into bond futures after economic data raised doubts as to how soon the Bank of Japan will raise rates.

Bloomberg

• Japan's consumer prices fell more than expected while industrial production dropped, reducing likelihood of a rise in interest rates. Core consumer prices declined 0.3% in March from a year earlier. Factory output declined 0.6%. The current benchmark interest rate stands at 0.5%.
• In London electronic trading, Brent crude settled at $67.82 a barrel, up 17 cents. In New York, crude closed on Thursday at $65.44 a barrel, up 38 cents. Crude rose due to reports of a refinery fire and threats of a production strike in Europe.

The Times Online (UK)

• ABN Amro held its annual meeting earlier today and faced infuriated shareholders angry over the proposed merger with Barclays. Shareholders accused ABN Amro's board of submitting Dutch employees to "Anglo-Saxon ways of working."