London (AFP) – Stock markets mostly fell, the dollar slid, and gold hit a record high Wednesday over fears about a trade war between superpowers China and the United States. US tech sector shares also took a beating after earnings from Google-parent Alphabet missed expectations, with Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index shedding 0.6 percent. Chinese e-commerce firms took a hit from news that the US Postal Service was suspending inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong, a move that followed tit-for-tat tariffs. The USPS later reversed its decision, but the European Commission said it would seek to impose new fees on e-commerce imports.
European markets wobbled, with carmakers and luxury industries suffering losses. Tensions between the United States and China have soared in recent days as the world’s two largest economies slapped a volley of import tariffs on each other. Analysts noted that China’s tariff response this week was relatively modest, providing some hope that a full-blown crisis could be avoided. “Everything seems to be in limbo on the tariff front, subject to change for better or worse,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.
“The market is trying to hold it together, offering some grace that there won’t be a worst-case tariff scenario that invites stagflation, yet it is fair to say that it is dismayed by the uncertainty all the tariff talk has generated,” he added. But “the problem with trade wars is they can escalate quickly, leading to potential issues such as inflation, job losses and even recession,” said Kate Marshall, lead investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Hong Kong’s stock market closed down nearly one percent, with e-commerce giant JD.com sinking almost four percent and rival Alibaba also falling. Shanghai dropped after it returned from a week-long break, while Tokyo reversed earlier losses. Amid uncertainty, gold hit a fresh peak of $2,877 an ounce as investors rushed into the haven metal. The tepid performance came despite a positive lead from Wall Street, after the United States delayed its 25 percent duties on imports from Canada and Mexico.
Tech firms were also under pressure after disappointing earnings led shares in Google-parent Alphabet to slump more than eight percent. David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, noted that Alphabet missed both the forecasts for overall revenue as well as that for its cloud operations. “Investors were also unhappy about its capital expenditures, something that China’s cut-price AI assistant DeepSeek has thrown into sharp relief,” he said. “All this comes after China has said it will launch an antitrust probe into Google as part of its retaliation against Trump’s fresh tariffs,” he added. Chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices sank 10 percent, having missed forecasts for sales to data centres.
The tech sector has already been roiled by the unveiling of a new chatbot by Chinese startup DeepSeek, stoking concerns about the eye-watering investments made in AI in recent years. In other company news, shares in Japan’s Nissan fell around five percent following reports that the carmaker had decided to withdraw from merger talks with rival Honda. Shares in Honda soared more than eight percent by the close. British drugmaker GSK jumped almost seven percent — topping London’s top-tier FTSE 100 index — after it upgraded its sales outlook on strong cancer medicine sales, despite its net profit nearly halving. Spanish banking giant Santander surged more than seven percent after it reported record annual profits for a third consecutive year.
– Key figures around 1430 GMT –
New York – Dow: FLAT at 44,563.28 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 6,025.32
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.6 percent at 19,529.18
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.4 at 8,606.67
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,892.10
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 21,539.65
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.1 percent to 38,831.48 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent to 20,597.09 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent to 3,229.49 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0422 from $1.0383 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2517 from $1.2480
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 153.01 yen from 154.32 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 83.26 pence from 83.16 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.4 percent at $71.71 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.3 percent at $75.19 per barrel.
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© 2024 AFP
