European stock markets open higher | beursduivel.be

(APMFN-Dow Jones) European stock markets are heading for a higher open on Wednesday. In the coming days, the minutes of the Fed and ECB meetings, especially the meeting in Jackson Hole, will determine the direction of the mark.

IG expects an opening gain of 31 points for the German DAX, 16 points for the French CAC 40 and an 8 point increase for the UK FTSE 100.

European stock markets closed lower on Tuesday, with many European indices under pressure due to falling energy stock prices.

Calm appears to have returned to global stock markets and investors are less nervous and more cautious, according to Naeem Aslam of Zai Capital Markets.

“Traders and investors are focused on the Jackson Hole event, where the Fed Chairman will deliver his speech.” Investors are hoping that Powell will hint that the Fed will cut interest rates at its September meeting.

Inflation once again held steady across the eurozone. Consumer prices rose by 2.6 percent, faster than 2.5 percent in June. Core inflation, a key measure for the European Central Bank, stood at 2.9 percent for the third month running.

German producer prices fell by 0.8% in July, after a 1.6% decline in June. Energy prices also fell less rapidly in July than in the previous month. Eurozone inflation figures contained no surprises and confirmed the preliminary figures already published.

On the monetary front, Sweden’s Riksbank cut interest rates this morning by 25 basis points to 3.50 percent, as expected, and expects two or three more cuts this year. The People’s Bank of China kept key interest rates on hold after cutting them by 10 basis points in July.

Risers and Fallers

The London Stock Exchange was pressured by energy shares such as BP and Shell, which fell more than 2 percent, while telecoms firm BT Group lost up to 6 percent after Sky signed a deal with BT rival CityFiber for business broadband services. Sector rival Vodafone lost about 2 percent.

European semiconductor companies largely erased earlier gains. Infineon rose 0.1 percent and ASML was flat at 0.4 percent. STMicroelectronics lost 0.4 percent.

Infineon had earlier surged on news that the European Union had agreed to a €5 billion support for the construction of a new semiconductor factory in Dresden. Berlin wants to support a joint venture between Taiwan’s TSMC, Infineon and Bosch, as well as the Netherlands’ NXP.

Energy company Siemens lost 3.5 percent, making it the biggest decliner on the DAX. Chemicals giant Bayer also had a tough time, closing down 2.7 percent.

Rheinmetall was under pressure again. Germany may want to cut its support for Ukraine, and that could work against Rheinmetall. The stock fell 3 percent.

Pernod Ricard lost ground in Paris and closed down 2.2 percent. TotalEnergies also lost 1.5 percent on the CAC 40, hit by lower oil prices.

Shares of luxury goods makers Hermes and LVMH rose on Monday, but only modestly. Renault was the biggest gainer in Paris, up 1.4 percent.

Euro Stoxx 50 4,857.58 (-0.28%)

STOXX Europe 600 512.27 (-0.45%)

DAX 18,357.52 (-0.35%)

CAC 40 7,485.73 (-0.22%)

FTSE 100 8,273.32 (-1.00%)

SMI 12,266.56 (+0.07%)

AEX 903.04 (-0.64%)

Bill 20 4,068.22 (-0.40%)

FTSE MIB 33,075.62 (0.57%)

IBEX 35 11,087.80 (-0.13%)

US Stocks

Wall Street opens in the green on Wednesday, according to U.S. futures.

U.S. stock markets closed slightly lower on Tuesday, after a string of earnings days, with losses for Boeing and XPeng.

Fears of a U.S. recession have faded since last week after strong macro data, while better-than-expected inflation figures pave the way for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Investors are once again pushing the “mild” scenario, in which the U.S. economy continues to grow while inflation falls to the Fed’s desired 2 percent.

Fresh hints could follow Friday during Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the central bank’s Jackson Hole symposium.

Oil has become much cheaper in recent days as a ceasefire in Gaza nears. The US government said on Monday that Israel will accept a US plan for a ceasefire. In addition to easing geopolitical tensions, there are still concerns about moderating demand for oil, especially from China.

Company News

Palo Alto Networks shares closed up 7 percent. The cybersecurity company posted a better-than-expected outlook and is buying back another $500 million in shares.

Boeing shares fell 4.2 percent after more bad news about the safety of its planes. The planemaker decided to ground its four 777X test planes after cracks were discovered. There are orders for 540 of the new type, which Boeing wants to deliver in 2025, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Bank of America lost 2.5 percent after news that Warren Buffett had sold the stock in three deals since last Friday.

Hawaiian Airlines shares rose 11.3 percent. The Justice Department has not objected to the merger with Alaska Air. The combination still needs approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Alaska Airlines rose slightly.

Lowe’s shares fell 1.2 percent after the quarterly results. Trading was disappointing and the bottom of the home improvement market has yet to emerge, the company said. Medtronic actually gained 1.5 percent. Sales of its insulin machine for diabetics contributed significantly to the growth.

XPeng shares fell 6 percent after the Chinese electric vehicle maker saw losses narrow and sales rise 60 percent. However, the outlook was disappointing with sales expected to range between 9.1 billion and 9.8 billion yuan.

S&P 500 Index 5,597.12 (-0.20%)

Dow Jones Index 40,834.97 (-0.15%)

Nasdaq Composite 17,816.94 (-0.33%)

Asia

Asian stock markets fell broadly on Wednesday.

Nikkei 225 37,981.07 (-0.2%)

Shanghai Composite 2,855.35 (-0.4%)

Hang Seng 17,345.53 (-1.0%)

currency

The EUR/USD was trading at 1.1119. When US exchanges closed on Tuesday, the currency pair was still trading at 1.1121 and when European exchanges closed, it was still at 1.1105.

USD/JPY 145.68 Yen

EUR/USD EUR 1.1119

EUR/JPY 161.98

Overall agenda:

1:00 PM Mortgage Applications – Weekly (US)

4:30 PM Oil Inventories – Weekly (US)

8:00 PM – Federal Reserve Meeting Minutes (US)

Company News:

1:00 PM Macy’s – Q2 Numbers (US)

22:00 Snowflake – Q2 figures (US)

22:00 Zoom Video Communications – Q2 Numbers (US)

Source: ABM Financial News

ABM Financial News is a resource for stock market news, video and data, both for trading platforms and real-time trading rooms and for online and offline media publications. The information contained in this article is not intended to constitute professional investment advice or a recommendation to make specific investments.