London (AFP) – Stock markets recovered on Friday as traders looked past the shock downfall of Nvidia’s chief Jensen Huang, though shares in the AI chip behemoth continued their descent. The latest inflation reading in the United States also helped investors turn their attention to the prospect of further interest rate hikes in the world’s biggest economy.
“After a tumultuous week for the Nvidia boss and some dramatic headlines… The focus has switched to US inflation concerns, Treasury yields and the oil price, while, believe it or not, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are both on track to register their best weekly gains since August,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
But technology woes remained front of mind at the end of the week, with Microsoft struggling to fix an issue that left users around the world without its Outlook email app. Microsoft’s shares fell 1.5 percent at the start of trading. Wall Street’s main indices opened higher, however, after eagerly awaited data showed that the Producer Price Index came in largely as expected. The index, which measures the prices that farms, factories, and other makers of goods receive, rose by 0.3 percent in October from the previous month, in line with analyst estimates.
The report comes on the heels of a hot consumer prices reading earlier in the week that also highlighted the impact of increased energy costs due to the US-Iran war. Following the report, US stock futures popped higher, while expectations of a 0.5 percentage point hike in US interest rates next month receded. Investors still expect the US Federal Reserve to lift interest rates by at least a quarter percentage point next month to try to rein in stubborn inflation.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said that the US wholesale inflation data may have been better than some analysts had expected, but was “not necessarily as comforting as it appeared when taking into account the upward revisions for September.” The September monthly gain was revised up to 1.4 percent from 1.3 percent, and the annual reading for October hit 6.5 percent, the highest since November 2022. “The key takeaway from the report is that inflation at the wholesale level is still a big problem,” O’Hare said.
Shares in Nvidia fell 2.7 percent at the start of trading in New York. The chip titan has been at the center of a storm after reports emerged that Huang — a pivotal figure in the AI explosion in recent years — had had extramarital affairs, including with a woman accused of spying for China. Huang stepped down as chief executive on Thursday in the face of a boardroom revolt, initially sending shares in the company down 14 percent before paring losses to end the day around four percent lower.
Asian stocks traded mixed, while European indices were largely unchanged. Oil prices were mixed after the International Energy Agency said global oil supplies were expected to exceed demand in the fourth quarter, as more tankers transit the Strait of Hormuz despite the ongoing conflict with Iran.
– Key figures at around 1430 GMT –
New York – DOW: UP 0.4 percent at 52,463.95 points
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 7,615.00
New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 25,404.38
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 10,881.29
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 8,356.42
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 26,743.74
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.5 percent at 61,142.35 (close)
Seoul – Kospi: DOWN 1.0 percent at 5,290.53 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.6 percent at 23,637.60 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.6 percent at 3,634.35 (close)
Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.0 percent at $96.81 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $89.23 per barrel
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1047 from $1.1055 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3229 from $1.3235
Dollar/yen: UP at 159.96 yen from 159.84 yen
Euro/pound: UNCHANGED at 83.53 pence
dan-ajb-rl/js
© 2024 AFP
