It was a mixed day of trading on global markets as investors awaited decisions from key central banks and earnings reports from big tech companies such as Meta, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. The results will answer if adapting AI to our everyday lives is feasible in the long term.
Dublin
The Irish market ended the day down 0.2 per cent. Greencoat Renewables rose by 1.24 per cent, finishing at 90 cent a share. Insulation company Kingspan was up 0.84 per cent to €84.35. Origin Enterprises also had a bit of a relief today rising 0.81 per cent to €3.10.
Hospitality group Dalata fell 2.02 per cent to €4.12, while Glanbia was down 2.52 per cent to €17.77. The banks had a mixed session. PTSB was off 0.68 per cent to €1.47, Bank of Ireland fell by 0.34 per cent to €10.41 and AIB was up 0.28 per cent to €5.33.
London
Britain’s FTSE 100 closed slightly higher on Monday, boosted by real estate shares on optimism around interest rate cuts in the US and the UK, while Reckitt Benckiser shares hit their lowest in over a decade following a ruling against competitor Abbott.
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The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.1 per cent, hitting its highest since early June. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 0.5 per cent after closing at its highest level in more than two years on Friday.
All eyes will be on the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday and Bank of England on Thursday for their interest rate decisions. Money markets see a 59 per cent chance that the Bank of England will cut rates by 25 basis points next week.
Shares of British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser hit their lowest in over 11 years, down 8.8 per cent, after a US jury found Abbott Laboratories’ premature infant formula caused a baby to develop a dangerous bowel disease.
Europe
European stocks slipped, dragged by weak earnings, as traders gear up for a big week of central bank decisions.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index closed 0.2 per cent lower in London having earlier gained as much as 0.6 per cent. European real estate and healthcare sectors gained the most, while autos and travel stocks posted the biggest declines.
Royal Philips surged as much as 15 per cent after the Dutch medical equipment-maker’s order intake rose for the first time in two years and issues related to its faulty sleep apnoea machines receded. Beer maker Heineken sank as much as 10 per cent as it took a €874 million one-time impairment to account for the lower valuation of its stake in China’s largest brewer.
New York
The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 rose in choppy, range-bound trading on Monday as investors looked forward to a raft of upcoming triggers such as Big Tech earnings, a Federal Reserve policy decision on interest-rate cuts and key labour data.
Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Microsoft and Meta Platforms were flat to 1.2 per cent up, but off the day’s highs.
Tesla was the top megacaps gainer, up 5 per cent after Morgan Stanley added the EV-maker’s stock to its “top pick” US autos list.
Coupled with a 4 per cent rise in McDonald’s in spite of concerns expressed over consumer spending, Tesla’s gains helped the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary index rise 0.9 per cent, topping sectoral gainers.
In a major test for markets investors will parse earnings from Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Amazon.com starting on Tuesday, to gauge if the AI-led equity rally has room to grow.
Technology behemoths have dominated Wall Street’s record-breaking run, prompting investors to start turning their attention to laggards such as mid and small caps, which are expected to benefit from a low-interest-rate environment. – Additional reporting: Reuters, Bloomberg
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