London (AFP) – Stock markets retreated in sparse summer trading Friday, with the uncertain outlook for the Middle East war and the US economy arguing for caution ahead of the weekend. Oil prices turned higher as investors braced for further volatility, with US and Iranian officials insisting on control of the Strait of Hormuz, which has been shut to tanker traffic by Iran since the US and Israeli strikes launched nearly six months ago.
On Wall Street, where the S&P 500 hit a new record high on Thursday, stocks slipped into negative territory, and most European indexes ended lower after a mixed showing in Asia. Weaker than expected US retail sales raised new questions about the prospects for the world’s biggest economy. While the data fed into expectations that the Federal Reserve would not hike borrowing costs anytime soon, “investors should be careful what they wish for,” said Bret Kenwell, investment analyst at eToro. “For the economy to stay resilient, consumers will need to do the same,” he noted, pointing out that even though US petrol prices eased in July, “that relief did not translate into stronger spending elsewhere.”
With the US-Iran conflict showing little sign of ending, worries about growth and stubborn inflation dominated attention across markets. Energy prices have swung between big gains and losses in recent weeks as resurgent strikes in the Middle East give way to hopes of a peace deal, and vice versa. US Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the country’s top priority in the Iran war was to bring down gasoline prices for American consumers.
Away from the war, the technology sector and the massive spending on artificial intelligence rollouts remained front and center. US chip manufacturing equipment group Applied Materials saw its shares slide nearly six percent despite record quarterly sales of $9.1 billion, with analysts noting that investors had expected more.
In Asia, Seoul gained more than two percent Friday as shares in the chipmakers SK hynix and Samsung recovered further following last month’s selloff. The country’s Kospi index had tanked about 40 percent between hitting its June high and an intra-day trough on August 6, but has since rebounded more than 20 percent. Friday also saw gains for Tokyo, where tech giants Kioxia, Advantest, and Sony rallied along with the technology investment titan SoftBank.
– Key figures around 1600 GMT –
New York – DOW: DOWN 0.2 percent at 53,722.71 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,782.32
New York: Nasdaq: DOWN 0.5 percent at 26,674.92
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 10,750.11 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,636.80 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.5 percent at 26,440.31 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 68,713.80 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.1 percent at 25,116.85 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: FLAT at 3,927.18 (close)
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.9 percent at $87.84 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $81.72 per barrel
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1581 from $1.1528 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3553 from $1.3486
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 159.17 yen from 159.52 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.47 pence from 85.48 pence
© 2024 AFP
