New York (AFP) – Tech shares suffered another bout of weakness Wednesday on worries about an AI bubble, hitting US stocks as oil prices advanced following a US announcement of a blockade of tankers to Venezuela. The Nasdaq led major Wall Street indices lower following reports questioning the financing of an Oracle project to build a data center in Michigan. Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management described Oracle as “probably the poster child” for questions about AI project financing and profitability.
“Investors are starting to be more differentiated and looking at the potential winners and the potential time frame before return on invested capital,” Hogan said. “That doesn’t mean we’re anywhere close to the final innings of artificial intelligence. It just means investors are being more discerning.” Besides Oracle, which fell 5.4 percent, other AI players such as Nvidia, Google parent Alphabet, and Broadcom all lost more than three percent.
While technology and communications services were among the sectors to retreat, energy led the winners among sectors moving higher. Oil prices rallied after US President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of “sanctioned” oil tankers heading to and leaving Venezuela. The commodity later pared some of its gains, but finished the day up more than one percent. Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, shrugged off the threat of more pain, insisting that it was proceeding with business as usual.
“Export operations for crude and byproducts continue normally. Oil tankers linked to PDVSA operations continue to sail with full security,” state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said. In Europe, London’s stock market rallied as the pound faltered on expectations of cuts to Bank of England interest rates, after data showed UK inflation falling faster than forecast. Britain’s annual inflation rate slowed to 3.2 percent in November, cementing expectations that the Bank of England will cut its main interest rate on Thursday and again on more than one occasion in 2026.
Analysts had expected inflation to have cooled only slightly to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent in October. Eurozone inflation remained at 2.1 percent in November, hovering just above the target set by the European Central Bank, slightly revised official data showed Wednesday. The ECB is expected to hold interest rates steady Thursday for its fourth straight meeting with inflation in check, although debate is heating up about the path forward. Both the Paris and Frankfurt stock markets ended lower.
Asian markets were mixed. In corporate news, the share price of Chinese chipmaker MetaX Integrated Circuits Shanghai soared more than 550 percent on its home-city debut Wednesday. Shares in Netflix climbed 0.2 percent after Warner Bros. Discovery rejected a hostile takeover bid by Paramount in favor of being acquired by the streaming giant. Shares in Warner Bros. Discovery shed 2.4 percent and shares in Paramount tumbled 5.4 percent.
– Key figures at around 2115 GMT –
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 47,885.97 (close)
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.8 percent at 6,721.43 (close)
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.8 percent at 22,693.32 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 9,774.32 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.3 percent at 8,086.05 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.5 percent at 23,960.59 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 49,512.28 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.9 percent at 25,468.78 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 3,870.28 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1743 from $1.1747 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3379 from $1.3423
Dollar/yen: UP at 155.70 yen from 154.72
Euro/pound: UP at 87.77 pence from 87.51
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.3 percent at $59.68 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.2 percent at $55.94 per barrel
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© 2024 AFP
