Following Monday’s reports indicating a potential slowdown in American consumer spending, investor confidence in early interest rate reductions surged, uplifting stock market indices.
In Dublin’s trading sphere, the Iseq Overall Index experienced an upturn by 1 per cent, ending at 10,037.19 points. Strong performers included Ryanair Holdings, experiencing a 3.75 per cent surge to €18.15 on a bank holiday. European airlines, generally, saw a rise in investor interest coinciding with the summer’s onset. Equally notable was packaging mogul Smurfit Kappa advancing 2 per cent to €45.60 whilst insulation experts Kingspan increased by 0.68 per cent to €88.80. Cairn Homes, a leader in housebuilding, saw an increase of 2 per cent equivalent to €1.71. On the other hand, trading results for the banking sector were less favourable with the Bank of Ireland experiencing a 1.38 per cent slide to €10.37.
Shifting focus to London, the FTSE 100 encountered a downtick, instigated by the pharmaceutical and energy sectors. Despite this, enthusiasm surrounding forthcoming interest rate reductions from the European Central Bank mitigated the losses. GSK suffered a significant loss with a 9.5 per cent descent to 1,598 pence, following a US court’s decision to move forward with over 70,000 lawsuits related to the discontinued heartburn medication, Zantac. Meanwhile, JD Sports experienced a 5.1 per cent increase to 133.95p, countering the previous day’s loss.
In other news, St James’ Place shares swelled by 4 per cent to 522.5p after earning an ‘overweight’ status upgrade from finance analysts at JP Morgan. The Hipgnosis Songs Fund also saw a boost with an offer increase from Blackstone, raising the bid from $1.30 to $1.31 — this resulted in an initial 1 per cent gain, later closing with a 0.4 per cent increase at 101p.
EasyJet, a budget airline and competitor to Ryanair, has seen its value increase by 3.35 per cent, ending up at 475.4p. The International Airlines Group, which owns both Aer Lingus and British Airways, has also seen an increase of 2.22 per cent to 175.2p.
Regarding European stocks, the Stoxx 600 index has gone up by 0.33 per cent. This increase is due to investor speculation about potential interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank this week. Nevertheless, some experts have warned that such cuts could be delayed.
Financial gains were also noted in European banks, with a significant 1.35 per cent increase to 277.7 Swedish krona in the stock price for online lender Avanza Bank following an upgrade recommendation from Barclays.
Although being a relatively strong day for airlines, Lufthansa only managed to grow slightly by 0.45 per cent to €6.45 amid rumors that the German carrier is having difficulties with regulators over its aim to acquire a stake in Italy’s Ita.
Investors have noticed an 8 per cent spike in European natural gas prices due to a supply disruption from Norway, Europe’s largest supplier.
In U.S. news, the iconic retailer GameStop experienced a dramatic hike of 24.1 per cent after Reddit influencer “Roaring Kitty” revealed a €106.6 million bet on the company.
Nvidia, a leader in AI, also saw a 3.3 per cent increase after CEO Jensen Huang announced the roll-out of next-generation chips in 2026.
Lastly, shares in large corporations like Apple and Meta saw a rise of between 0.8 per cent to 2.1 per cent as yields on both US 10-year and five-year notes saw a downturn around 10 basis points.