As Oil Rises Due to Shipping Threat, Stock Rally Falters – Europe Market Wrap
A four-day rally in US stocks lost some momentum as investors assessed the latest earnings from tech megacaps, while oil rose as a fresh threat against Middle East shipping tempered optimism over US-Iran talks.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%, and contracts on the Nasdaq 100 were little changed. Nvidia gained in premarket trading after a key partner reported a sharp increase in monthly sales, signaling sustained demand in global AI infrastructure build-out. Arista Networks jumped as much as 14% after the cloud-networking company forecast better-than-expected revenue for Q3.
The Dollar, the haven of choice during the Middle East conflict, weakened against most of its Group-of-10 peers for a third straight day. Treasuries were steady, while gold, silver and platinum all rose as the non-interest-bearing precious metals benefit when rates are not increased, with bullion climbing 2.1% to about $4,164 an ounce.
Europe’s Stoxx 600 erased an early gain, with Novo Nordisk falling 4% after sales of its Wegovy weight-loss pill disappointed investors, while HSBC declined after a series of analyst downgrades.
Brent crude reversed some of Tuesday’s 5.3% plunge after Yemen’s Houthi militant group threatened to escalate attacks on Saudi vessels in the northern Red Sea. Still, the commodity held around $80 a barrel amid reports that Washington, Tehran and Oman were nearing an agreement to resume oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, easing inflation fears and upward pressure on Treasury yields.
