London (AFP) – Stock markets slid across the board on Tuesday as investors worried about lofty tech valuations on the eve of earnings from AI chip titan Nvidia. Bitcoin also briefly fell below the key $90,000 level for the first time in seven months before rising to $93,000. With US markets slumping on opening after a rough day of trading in Europe and a sharp sell-off in Asia, Nvidia itself gave up 2 percent mid-session.
“The tech-focused sell-off seen in the US has evidently resulted in global contagion,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets. Traders increasingly believe the US Federal Reserve will decide against an interest-rate cut next month. Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst with StoneX, pointed out that usually reliable commodities like gold and copper had also been forced downwards.
More than two hours into the Wall Street session, the Dow stood down 0.9 percent at 46,183.67 points, with the Nasdaq also down 0.9 percent at 22,481.84 points. The broader-based S&P 500 was off half of one percent. Shares in US online services provider Cloudflare were off 1.5 percent after saying it had been affected by a “latent bug” which disrupted traffic to major websites including social network X and AI chatbot ChatGPT.
There was no cheer at the European close as London, Paris and Frankfurt all shed more than one percent. After this year’s record stocks rally, traders have begun to question whether the billions poured into artificial intelligence will ever lead to big returns. Investors will be looking for clues as to the health of the industry when Nvidia releases its quarterly earnings, expected on Wednesday. They will also be parsing the US September jobs report on Thursday — delayed by the government shutdown — for fresh signs that a rate cut could happen. Meanwhile, results from retailers Home Depot, Target and Walmart will also give an insight into consumer sentiment.
Earlier, Tokyo tumbled as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi prepared to unveil an economic stimulus package. Yields on 20-year Japanese government bonds hit their highest since 1999 as speculation grew that the spending bill will ramp up borrowing. The yen slipped to around 155.48 per dollar, its weakest since January, as expectations of more interest rate hikes faded. Razaqzada said of all the worries hitting the markets, Japan was perhaps the biggest. “Markets now worry that the government is mishandling the economy, demanding higher returns to compensate for what they perceive as rising risk in holding Japanese debt,” he said.
– Key figures at around 1645 GMT –
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.9 percent at 46,183.67 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.6 percent at 6,629.679
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.9 percent at 22,481.84
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.4 percent at 9,543.01 points (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 1.1 percent at 7,964.43 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 1.7 percent at 23,179.69 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 3.2 percent at 48,702.98 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.7 percent at 25,930.03 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,939.81 (close)
Dollar/yen: UP at 155.48 yen from 155.23 yen on Monday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1579 from $1.1589
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3142 from $1.3156
Euro/pound: UP at 88.11 pence from 88.09 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $64.02 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.1 percent at $60.01 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
