Shares mostly rose Thursday with Wall Street lifted by strong earnings from Nvidia and eurozone equities boosted by news of encouraging business activity.
The Dow was lower, but the wider-S&P and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose. Nvidia reported after-hours Wednesday that quarterly profit rose seven-fold on demand for its chips to power artificial intelligence in data centres.
“The stock market was waiting all week on the earnings report from Nvidia, and that report proved to be worth the wait — and the weight,” said Patrick O’Hare, analyst at Briefing.com. It “wowed yet again with its results and outlook, and put a cherry on top for shareholders with a 10-for-1 stock split announcement and 150 percent increase in its dividend.”
Nvidia — now the third largest company by capitalisation — was up 9.4 percent shortly after the opening in New York. Food company Mondelez was down 1.1 percent after being hit by a fine from the EU for alleged anti-competitive practices.
In Europe, Frankfurt and Paris stocks rose after a key survey showed that eurozone business activity accelerated in May.
The HCOB Flash Eurozone purchasing managers’ index (PMI), published by S&P Global, rose to 52.3 from 51.7 in April, its highest in 12 months. Any reading above 50 indicates growth, while a figure below 50 shows contraction.
The PMI’s rise was driven by the services sector, where activity rose a fourth consecutive month, helped by new businesses. The manufacturing sector remained below 50, although its decline slowed.
“The PMI data has further alleviated growth concerns over Europe, providing mild support to European shares and the single currency,” said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at City Index.
London stocks were little changed, one day after hotter-than-expected annual UK inflation data dampened hopes of a Bank of England interest rate cut any time soon.
Traders largely shrugged off Wednesday’s news that Conservative British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called a general election for July 4.
The right-wing Tories, in power since 2010 but battered by disappointment over Brexit, cost-of-living discontent and a slew of scandals, have consistently trailed the main opposition Labour party in opinion polls for two years.
“It’s sooner than expected but until we get full election manifestos from the Conservatives and Labour, markets have stayed calm,” noted AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
Asian markets diverged Thursday after minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting indicated officials would keep interest rates elevated for some time as they struggle to bring inflation down to their two percent target.
“While the consensus was that the policy was ‘well positioned’, numerous members were open to additional rate hikes if necessary,” said City Index’s Razaqzada.
The news — coming on top of faster-than-predicted UK inflation — was soon offset by the forecast-busting earnings from Nvidia.
Elsewhere, oil snapped a three-day losing streak while gold fell.
– Key figures around 1340 GMT –
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 39,542.51
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 5,328.69
New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 16,963.98
London – FTSE 100: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 8,364.62 points
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 8,117.24
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 18,710.09
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.5 percent at 5,050.66
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 39,103.22 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.7 percent at 18,868.71 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.3 percent at 3,116.39 (close)
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 39,671.04
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 156.70 yen from 156.75 yen on Wednesday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0859 from $1.0826
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2741 from $1.2717
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.22 from 85.10 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.1 percent at $78.44 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.1 percent at $82.76 per barrel
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