London (AFP) – Global stocks turned in a mixed performance on Tuesday as a record-long US government shutdown took a step nearer to ending and tech stocks struggled. Wall Street opened mostly lower, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shedding percent. “The go-to explanation is that there is some consternation surrounding the AI trade,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.
Japan’s SoftBank announced it sold $5.8 billion worth of shares in US chip giant Nvidia last month. Shares in Nvidia, whose processors are prized by companies training and operating AI models, fell 2.5 percent at the start of trading. The sale comes amid debate whether the inflated prices of AI stocks have become a bubble. Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, noted that Softbank didn’t address that question, but didn’t want to take any risks given the size of its holding. “For the wider investment community, when big investors cash out of their AI positions, they will take notice, and this is why the stock is declining today,” she said.
More broadly, Brooks said tech stocks were no longer providing momentum to the markets. “Without momentum helping US indices move higher, volatility could take hold, so we are not expecting stocks to move in a straight line for now, and the market correction may not be over,” she said in a note to clients.
Europe’s main stock markets climbed Tuesday. London’s top-tier FTSE 100 index reached a fresh record high as a weakening pound boosted multi-nationals earning in dollars. Paris won solid gains during a public holiday in France, which tends to exaggerate share price movements owing to low trading volumes. An Asian rally that began Monday ran out of steam. Equities generally started the week on the front foot after US lawmakers reached a deal to reopen the government after more than 40 days, adding to a revival of demand for tech giants despite growing fears of an AI-fuelled bubble.
US senators passed the compromise budget measure on Monday after a group of Democrats broke with their party to side with Republicans on a bill to fund departments through January. It is hoped the bill will then pass the Republican-held House of Representatives and head to US President Donald Trump’s desk, with some suggesting the government could reopen Friday. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that “we’ll be opening up our country very quickly,” adding that “the deal is very good.”
Investors had grown increasingly concerned about the impact of severe disruptions of food benefits to low-income households, and of air travel heading into the Thanksgiving holiday. The shutdown has also meant key official data on a range of things, including inflation and jobs, has not been released, leaving traders to focus on private reports for an idea about the economy. The lack of crucial data has meant the Federal Reserve has been unable to gauge properly whether or not to cut interest rates at its next meeting in December, keeping investors guessing.
Analysts increasingly expect the Bank of England to cut its main interest rate next month after official data Tuesday showed a bigger-than-expected rise to UK unemployment ahead of the Labour government’s annual budget later this month. The increase to five percent in the third quarter weighed on the pound.
– **Key figures at 1430 GMT:**
New York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 47,448.98 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 6,822.48
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 23,415.91
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 9,879.01
Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.1 percent at 8,143.82
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 24,043.73
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 50,842.93 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 26,696.41 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 4,002.76 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1605 from $1.1563 on Monday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3174 from $1.3182
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 153.82 yen from 154.03 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 88.06 pence from 88.00 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.1 percent at $64.76 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.1 percent at $60.80 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
