London (AFP) – Stock markets drifted higher Wednesday as investors awaited a high-stakes summit between the United States and China, while oil prices diverged as Middle East peace talks stalled. Oil prices surged earlier this week on signs that no breakthrough was in sight to resume crucial Gulf tanker and cargo traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, paralyzed by the Middle East war. The International Energy Agency warned that countries were tapping into oil inventories and strategic reserves at a “record pace,” meaning further price volatility was likely.
Following surges for equities worldwide on the back of solid corporate earnings and hopes for a swift end to the Mideast conflict, investors were content to hunker down. Wall Street indexes traded little changed after several weeks of hitting record highs despite the geopolitical turbulence, while Europe’s main equity markets made modest gains. “There is a calmer tone to markets on Wednesday,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB, adding that markets were boosted by a “no news is good news” approach.
Investors also digested sharply higher US inflation data. Wholesale prices rose 6.0 percent for the 12 months ending in April, according to US Department of Labor data. Month-on-month increases greatly exceeded expectations and were at their highest level since March 2022. The data is the latest indication of how the surge in oil prices since the US-Israeli war on Iran is reverberating through the US economy. It comes a day after data showed US consumer inflation hit a three-year high in April.
“The latest data reinforces fears that the world’s largest economy may be drifting towards a stagflationary environment — where growth slows while inflation remains high,” said FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada. He said the report was even more concerning as inflation pressure had moved from energy and into the wider economy. Soaring inflation could pile pressure on US President Donald Trump to end the war, but he insisted that Americans’ financial situation did not motivate him “even a little bit” to make a peace deal with Iran.
Iran’s chief negotiator urged Washington on Tuesday to accept Tehran’s latest peace plan or face failure. Both sides have refused to make concessions and repeatedly threatened to resume fighting, but neither appears willing to return to all-out war. Traders are looking to China, where Trump landed Wednesday after saying he expected a “long talk” with his counterpart Xi Jinping about Iran. The US president said he would ask Xi to “open up” China to American firms, adding that AI chip titan Nvidia’s boss Jensen Huang was a last-minute invite among a host of top chief executives joining the trip.
The dollar firmed, while UK government bonds remained under pressure as Keir Starmer battled to remain prime minister, causing the country’s borrowing costs to rise.
– Key figures at around 1530 GMT –
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $107.45 a barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $102.92
New York – DOW: DOWN 0.5 percent at 49,513.14 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent at 7,411.59
New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.6 at 26,248.93
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 10,301.36 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 8,007.97 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX 30: UP 0.8 percent at 24,136.81 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 63,272.11 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 26,388.44 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 4,242.57 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1711 from $1.1745 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3518 from $1.3542
Dollar/yen: UP at 157.85 from 157.57 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.65 pence from 86.70 pence
© 2024 AFP
