New York (AFP) – Wall Street stocks largely rose Monday as markets looked ahead to a heavy week of earnings reports following last week’s overall solid results. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq advanced to finish at fresh records, while the Dow edged lower.
“There is obviously momentum here,” said FHN Financial’s Chris Low, who cited an improving US economic outlook after forecasters earlier in the year had warned of recession. But Low said upcoming earnings conference calls with tech giants will be important because the sector is potentially in the “crosshairs” of tariff negotiations.
On European markets, London and Frankfurt rose, but Paris sank. “As we start a new week, the focus is once again on tariffs and earnings reports,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB. US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a series of significant tariff hikes on August 1 if there are no deals with major trading partners, including the European Union. Brussels has readied reprisals against a range of US imports — including Boeing planes and bourbon — should no breakthrough come in its negotiations with Washington. Trump has threatened 30 percent tariffs on EU goods, which would rise further if Brussels retaliated.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CBS News over the weekend he was “confident” a trade deal would be reached with the EU. But Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said that any agreement would likely be “only a framework deal… requiring further negotiations on the details.” “Realistically, there is a high probability that uncertainty will persist beyond August 1,” he said. That uncertainty will be part of the European Central Bank’s calculus as it meets this week. Expectations are for it to hold eurozone interest rates steady, pausing a long cycle of easing.
Asia’s equities advance was led by Hong Kong and came after strong earnings from Taiwanese chip giant TSMC and news that US titan Nvidia will be allowed to export key semiconductors to China. The yen strengthened against the dollar after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed to stay on even after his ruling coalition lost its majority in the upper house in elections on Sunday. Ishiba, too, is struggling to reach a trade deal with Trump, who has threatened tariffs of 25 percent on goods from Japan.
In company news, Jeep maker Stellantis said it suffered a massive 2.3-billion-euro ($2.7-billion) net loss in the first half of this year, on the back of slumping North America sales and partly from “the early effects of US tariffs.” Its shares, which have lost more than a third of their value since the start of the year, dipped early on Monday before reversing course and ending up. Verizon jumped 4.1 percent after reporting better-than-expected earnings. Analysts cited a 5.2 percent rise in revenues as meaningful, given the company’s sales trends.
– Key figures at around 2030 GMT –
New York – Dow: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 44,323.07 (close)
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.1 percent at 6,305.60 (close)
New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 20,974.17 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,012.99 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.3 percent at 7,798.22 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.1 percent at 24,307.80 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.7 percent at 24,994.14 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,559.79 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: Closed for a holiday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1688 from $1.1626
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3485 from $1.3448
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.42 yen from 148.81 yen on Friday
Euro/pound: UP at 86.68 pence from 86.44 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $69.21 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $67.20 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
