London (AFP) – Stock markets were mixed on Tuesday as investors started turning their attention from trade deals to a slew of company results falling this week. New York struggled, while in Europe, London, Paris, and Frankfurt all closed higher. In Asia, Shanghai ended higher, but Hong Kong and Tokyo lost ground.
The muddled picture came as investors continued to digest the implications of a US-EU trade deal announced on the weekend that many European capitals viewed as lopsided in Washington’s favour. Tuesday also saw Chinese and US officials huddle in Sweden for a second day of talks aimed at extending a trade truce to avoid the return of triple-digit tariffs on each of their countries from August 12. “The latest surveys point to further weakness to come” in global trade, said Ariane Curtis, a senior analyst at Capital Economics.
The dollar continued its advance, especially against the euro, while oil prices kept rising strongly. The euro has “suffered a nasty battering…as investors questioned just how positive the US-EU trade deal was for the European Union,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation. For many investors, though, the focus this week was now more on company earnings reports. Tech heavyweights are stealing the spotlight, with Meta and Microsoft to give results on Wednesday, followed by Amazon and Apple on Thursday. Their massive—and extremely costly—investment race in artificial intelligence underpinned much of the action.
Bloomberg News reported that Microsoft was in talks to keep access to OpenAI technology, even if the ChatGPT maker achieves AI that goes beyond human intelligence. Thomas Mathews, a markets analyst at Capital Economics, said: “With the worst of the risks around trade seemingly fading, we suspect there are fewer remaining obstacles to further investor enthusiasm for AI and its implications for US companies.”
European carmakers—especially those in Germany—pursued their drop from Monday as investors balked at the US tariffs they face. Stellantis, owner of brands including Jeep, Fiat, and Peugeot, ended 0.6 percent lower as it said it expected profits to rebound later this year, despite taking a 1.5-billion-euro ($1.7-billion) hit from the US tariffs. It was mixed fortunes for pharmaceutical stocks. AstraZeneca, up more than three percent, helped buoy London’s FTSE after posting strong earnings. But Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, known for its blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy, shed 23 percent on lowered forecasts. It has been fighting US authorization allowing pharmacies to create “compound” copycat versions of its drugs because of shortages due to high demand.
Merck, the US pharma company, pared a drop in its shares but was still down four percent after saying it would axe jobs under a restructuring aimed at cutting $3 billion in costs a year by 2027. Swedish music streamer Spotify’s shares slid 11 percent after it reported an operating profit that far missed its target. The US Federal Reserve, meanwhile, was to begin Tuesday its two-day policy meeting under increasing pressure from President Donald Trump to slash rates, despite stubbornly high inflation.
**Key figures at around 1545 GMT -**
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 44,642.36 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 6,374.57
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 21,113.42
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 9,138.85 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 7,851.54 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 24,198.28 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 40,674.55 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.2 percent at 25,524.45 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,609.71 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1532 from $1.1597 on Monday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3333 from $1.3356
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.41 yen from 148.52 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.49 pence from 86.80 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.2 percent at $70.17 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $67.62 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
