New York (AFP) – Wall Street stocks rose to fresh records again Tuesday as a jump in Nvidia shares added to bullishness over easing trade tensions and market-friendly central bank policy. “Record highs yesterday for the major indices weren’t enough,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare. “The market is coming back for more this morning, heartened by recent earnings reports, visions of a rate cut dancing in its head, merger and acquisition activity, positive sentiment surrounding President Trump’s trip to Asia, and plain old momentum,” he added.
All three major US indices climbed to records for the third straight session, with artificial intelligence player Nvidia piling on about five percent as the chipmaker announced new ventures and CEO Jensen Huang headlined a company event in Washington. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 index also set a fresh record high, while Frankfurt and Paris stocks retreated. Asian stock markets mostly fell.
Investors have overwhelmingly priced in a quarter-percentage-point interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve following its Wednesday meeting, and instead will be looking for clues from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on subsequent decisions. “With Powell, it’s not so much what he does, but really what he says going forward is what’s going to matter, and that’s going to move the needle,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.
Donald Trump is due to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping Thursday in South Korea — and rosy comments by the US president have fueled optimism that the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States, can strike a deal to ease their trade war. Trump on Tuesday met Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo, where she lavished Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index of leading stocks finished the day down 0.6 percent, after surging above 50,000 points Monday for the first time thanks to Takaichi’s pro-stimulus stance.
Shares in Nokia soared more than 21 percent after the Finnish telecommunications equipment firm said Nvidia would take a 2.9-percent stake in it for $1 billion. Separately, Nvidia also announced an alliance with Uber to deploy 100,000 robotaxis starting in 2027. Shares in online retailing giant Amazon rose 1.0 percent after it said it would reduce staff by 14,000 posts as part of efforts to streamline operations, while boosting its AI endeavors.
Markets also continued to follow earnings. Shares in package delivery giant UPS, which is in the midst of a strategic restructuring drive, jumped 8.0 percent after it beat analyst expectations with its third-quarter earnings. The company disclosed it has cut about 48,000 jobs over the last year. Shares in HSBC rose in London and Hong Kong as the global bank’s underlying profits beat expectations. Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis shed more than four percent after its latest earnings showed the group under pressure from US generic drugs.
– Key figures at around 2020 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 47,706.37 (close)
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 6,890.89 (close)
New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 23,827.49 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 9,696.74 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.3 percent at 8,216.58 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 24,278.63 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 50,219.18 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.3 percent at 26,346.14 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,988.22 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1656 from $1.1645 on Monday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3276 from $1.3336
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 152.06 yen from 152.88 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 87.80 from 87.32 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.9 percent at $64.40 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.9 percent at $60.15 per barrel
burs-jmb/bgs
© 2024 AFP
