European stocks ended mixed on the last trading day of the year. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed a shortened trading session 0.1% lower on Wednesday, with most sector indexes in negative territory. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended the day down 0.2%, bringing the index to an annual gain of 21.5% – its strongest yearly gain since 2009. Meanwhile, France's CAC 40 ended New Year's Eve down 0.2%, while Germany's DAX rose 0.6%. Italy's FTSE MIB gained 1.1%, bringing annual gains to 31.5% and its best year since 1998. Markets were open for a half-day of trading on Wednesday, and will be closed...
Hong Kong stocks fell 53 points, or 0.2%, to 25,416 in Thursday morning trading, reversing the previous session's gains after Wall Street closed significantly lower overnight due to lingering concerns over AI valuations and caution ahead of November inflation data. Caution is also growing ahead of policy meetings by several central banks in Europe and Asia scheduled for today and Friday. Meanwhile, mainland Chinese stocks were sluggish after Wednesday's rally, with investors awaiting China's foreign direct investment figures for the first 11 months, expected to be released today. From...
Japanese stocks fell sharply in today's trading, with the Nikkei index falling 1.7% to 48,669.70. This decline followed Wall Street's overnight plunge, as global market sentiment was dominated by investor risk aversion. The greatest pressure came from artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. Investors began to withdraw after several major players in the cloud infrastructure sector withdrew from data center projects. This situation raised concerns about the future growth prospects of the AI sector. SoftBank Group was one of the worst-performing stocks, plummeting 6.7%, followed by Lasertec...
Asian stock markets opened lower following Wall Street's rout, as investors again shunned riskier assets. Stocks in Japan and Australia fell, followed by Hong Kong futures. Pressure came primarily from the technology sector, with the Nasdaq 100 falling 1.9% and Nvidia shares plummeting 3.8% to their lowest level since September, dampening global sentiment. The massive sell-off in technology stocks reflected growing investor skepticism about the high valuations and heavy spending of companies involved in the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. Concerns over data center construction costs and...
US stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 falling 1.2% to mark a fourth consecutive session of losses. The Nasdaq dropped 1.8%, while the Dow Jones ended 228 points lower, also extending its losing streak to four sessions. The tech sector led the declines amid persistent concerns over AI-related valuations. Oracle tumbled 5.4% after reports that its largest data center partner, Blue Owl, declined to back the company's plan to build a $10 billion data center. Nvidia fell 3.8%, Broadcom slid 4.5%, and AMD plunged 5.3%. Amazon shares closed 0.6% lower, giving up early...
European equities were mostly lower on Wednesday, reversing early gains and extending losses for a second consecutive session. The STOXX 50 fell 0.7%, while the STOXX 600 closed little changed. ASML Holding tumbled 4% after a Reuters report showed a team in Shenzhen had completed a working prototype of an EUV machine in early 2025, which will potentially reduce China's demand for ASML's products. Siemens was also down 2% and Schneider Electric fell 2.9%. In contrast, defense stocks rebounded after Germany's parliamentary budget committee cleared more than €50 billion in defense contracts...