London (AFP) – Stock markets were stuck Wednesday as US President Donald Trump ruled out a fresh tariffs delay and the US private sector unexpectedly lost jobs in June while rumours abounded in Britain over the future of the country’s finance minister. The Dow and the S&P indices were off a tick around a quarter of an hour into trading on Wall Street while the tech-heavy Nasdaq barely crept into the green after Tokyo-listed equities had earlier taken a hit from Trump’s threats to ramp up Japanese levies.
Tesla was up almost two percent despite reporting another hefty drop, of 13.5 percent, in auto sales, extending a difficult period amid intensifying electric vehicle competition and backlash over CEO Elon Musk’s political activities. In London, the FTSE-100 was down 0.3 percent and the pound lost more than one percent against the dollar on rumours over the future of British finance minister Rachel Reeves. Reeves appeared visibly upset in parliament a day after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government U-turned over key welfare reforms, wiping out a multibillion-pound boost to public finances and triggering speculation that she could lose her job.
“The prospect of political turmoil is causing bond yields to rise. The market is pricing in the possibility of a replacement chancellor with a more left-leaning agenda, which is spooking the bond market and waking up the bond vigilantes from their slumber,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. Brooks added that axing Reeves would be “a strange choice” from a market perspective.
Wall Street’s focus was on the US private sector unexpectedly losing 33,000 jobs in June, according to data from payroll firm ADP, a potential sign of labour market weakness amid uncertainty over Trumpian tariffs. It was the first such decline in recent years, in data that will be scrutinised ahead of government employment numbers due to be released on Thursday.
Oil prices jumped around one percent as crude-producer Iran suspended cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, days after a ceasefire in a war that saw Israeli and US strikes on nuclear sites in the Islamic republic. Market watchers reacted also to Trump’s signature budget bill that scraped through the Senate. Optimism over an extension to deep tax cuts helped to offset warnings it could add around $3 trillion to the national debt. A week before Trump’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs ends, few governments have struck deals to avert the taxes, though White House officials say several are in the pipeline.
And while the administration had set July 9 as the deadline to finalise pacts, investors largely expect that to be pushed back or countries given extra time. However, the president said Tuesday he was “not thinking about the pause” and again warned he would end negotiations or hike some duties. “While markets suspect another last-minute climbdown, any renewed trade tension still poses a headwind for the dollar,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst with City Index and FOREX.com.
Among those in Trump’s sights is Japan, which he slammed this week over its auto exports and rice imports. Asia Society Policy Institute vice president Wendy Cutler told AFP that “Japan’s refusal to open its rice market, coupled with the US resistance to lowering automotive tariffs, may lead to the reimposition of Japan’s 24 percent reciprocal tariff.” In Washington, senators passed Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” he says will boost the economy by extending tax cuts and slashing spending on programmes such as Medicare. The legislation now faces a tough passage through the House of Representatives, where some Republicans have raised concerns about its cost amid already heightened fears over the country’s finances.
On the corporate front Wednesday, shares in Qantas dropped more than two percent after the Australian airline said it was probing a “significant” cyberattack where hackers infiltrated a system containing sensitive data on six million customers. Hong Kong-listed Chinese tech titan Alibaba dipped after saying it would issue US$7 billion in subsidies for certain purchases. Hong Kong is expected to lead the world in IPO financing this year despite uncertainty from geopolitical tensions and trade tariffs, accountancy giant PwC said.
– Key figures at around 1345 GMT –
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 44,437.51 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent at 6,198.01
New York – Nasdaq: UP 0.2 percent at 20,234.50
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 8,758.78
Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.0 percent at 7,731.22
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 23,724.63
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 39,762.48 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.6 percent at 24,221.41 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,454.79 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1765 from $1.1806 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3592 from $1.3740
Dollar/yen: UP at 144.02 yen from 143.41 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 86.56 pence from 85.87 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.9 percent at $67.72 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.0 percent at $66.11 per barrel
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© 2024 AFP
