LONDON (Reuters) – Global stock markets won on Wednesday as early indications of a return to European companies’ revenue offset concerns about rising COVID-19 infections in Asia, which have lowered oil prices.
The STOXX index of 600 European shares rose 0.7% to 436.76 points. Analysts said a 1.9% drop on Tuesday, the worst session this year, was exaggerated, and the benchmark remains close to its record of 443.61 points on Monday.
The MSCI global stock index fell by 0.2%. And he had set records on Monday.
“We’ve seen about seven weeks of gains based on the recovery trade,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
“It was at a perfect price and with events in Japan and India before the earnings, maybe there will be a few potholes along the way, a bit of risk correction,” Hewson said.
Recent optimism about rising vaccination rates in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union is leading to concerns that coronavirus infections in India and a tightening of travel restrictions will act as a brake on the world economy.
Stocks in Tokyo also fell 2% due to the growing likelihood that Tokyo, Osaka and surrounding areas would be blocked due to a new wave of coronavirus infections.
Europe has started a earnings season that is expected to grow by 61%, the largest increase in nine years amid a recovery from economic bottlenecks.
Technology stocks were the biggest winners, up nearly 2%, with semiconductor equipment maker ASML up 5.4% after raising year-over-year sales forecasts, citing strong demand in the context of a global shortage of computer chips. But Italian football club Juventus fell 10% after the separatist European Super League was shaken by the departure of its six clubs from England.
Future crude will drop from a one-month high to speculation that restrictions on coronavirus in India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, will affect energy demand.
US crude oil fell 0.4% to $ 62.44 a barrel, while Brent crude oil fell 0.2% to $ 66.40 a barrel.
“Renewed concerns about the global economic recovery have affected commodity prices and currencies. Many countries around the world, such as India and Brazil, have set new records for infections and deaths, “analysts at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a research note.
Analysts said they were looking for pockets at the European Central Bank on Thursday, followed by gains by the Federal Reserve and Big Tech on Wall Street next week.
NETFLIX SLUMP
S&P 500 e-mini futures stocks were slightly firmer, indicating a potential modest return from Tuesday’s Wall Street sell-off.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.75%, the S&P 500 lost 0.68% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.92% on Tuesday as investors sold airlines and travel-related shares for fear of a recovery. delayed global tourism.
Some tech stocks and companies that benefited from home demand could face further pressure on Wednesday, after Netflix Inc reported a disappointing increase in subscribers for its movie streaming service, which reduced its shares down 11% in trading after hours.
The largest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific equities outside Japan fell by 1.1%. Shares in Australia fell 0.3%, but shares in China recovered early losses and rose 0.3% due to positive gains in the medical and banking sectors.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies traded 0.2% higher at 91,358.
Investors are closely watching a 20-year US treasury auction on Wednesday, which will be an important indicator of global fixed income demand.
Prior to the auction results, the yield on treasury notes at 10 reference years traded at 1.5767%, almost a minimum of six weeks.
As a sign of increasing risk aversion, spot gold traded at $ 1,781.40 an ounce, close to a seven-week high on Monday. [GOL/]
Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Kim Coghill and Gareth Jones