On Tuesday, we saw a surge in markets as signs pointed to the US central bankers potentially reducing interest rates in September. However, brokers stated that within Dublin and other European trading places, the volumes were quite limited.
In Dublin, the Irish market plodded ahead with minimal corporate news to spark investor interest, according to traders commenting on Tuesday night. AIB experienced a little over a 1% increase, reaching €5.05, and Bank of Ireland, its fellow banking institution, saw a less significant increase, settling at €9.50 at the day’s end. Brokers noted the low trading volumes.
Also seeing success, Cairn Homes, the housebuilding company, saw an increase of 1%, closing at €1.824. Further, the popular airline Ryanair increased by 0.5% to close at €14.985 after briefly surpassing the €15 mark earlier the same day. Kerry, a food and ingredients conglomerate, had a 0.63% increase to €87.40 following a period where the share price was challenged, traders observed.
Traders also reported an overall downturn in European market volumes on Tuesday.
In London, UK stocks ended Tuesday on a high note while investors were eagerly awaiting key inflation figures, both domestically and in the US, to get a feel for the potential fluctuations in global interest rates.
Homebuilding company Crest Nicholson saw a drop of 20.7%, falling to 208.8 pence sterling. This positioned the company at the lowest point of the FTSE 250, following the withdrawal of a £720 million (€900m) bid by the competing company Bellway. Furthermore, Dowlais Group, a manufacturer of autocar parts, saw a 4.4% decrease to 58.7p as it mulled over the potential sale of its GKN Powder Metallurgy unit and trimmed its yearly revenue prediction.
Both the leading FTSE 100 index and the secondary FTSE 250 index saw increases of about 0.3% and extended their success over to a third consecutive session.
Moving our focus to Europe, we saw Hellofresh shares rise at an unprecedented rate unseen in five years. This surge happened in Frankfurt following the announcement from the ready-to-eat meal producer that it plans to cut costs. The stock value escalated by 23% at one stage, closing at a 19.3% increase and settling at €6.44 close to the business day’s end.
Hellofresh boasted that it achieved earnings of €146.4 million in the second quarter, surpassing analysts’ predictions. It further announced plans to cut costs whilst maintaining profits. Despite being confronted with increased inflation, the Berlin-based company has continued to hold onto its customer base.
Pharmaceutical company Evotec saw a 10% rise to €5.94 following the announcement of its continued alliance with U.S. behemoth Bristol Myers Squibb, leading to expected remunerations amounting to $75 million.
Starbucks, a US-based coffeehouse chain, emerged as the top performer on the S&P 500, with a surge of 20.5%, positioning it for the largest single-day percentage rise in its history. This surge followed the appointment of Brian Niccol, previously the head of Chipotle Mexican Grill, as the new Chairman and CEO. In contrast, Chipotle’s shares experienced a loss of 9.6%.
This shift coincided with U.S. equities reaching a near-fortnightly high on Tuesday, following a weaker-than-expected producer price index, indicative of subdued inflation. This led investors to heighten their expectations of interest rate reductions from the U.S. Federal Reserve in the upcoming month.
Giant-scale and growth stocks witnessed an increase, with Nvidia leading the raise for a consecutive session with a surge over 5%. Concurrently, the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index experienced a 2.8% rise, reaching a near-fortnightly high. Investors are currently anticipating consumer price figures for July due Wednesday and retail sales data to be released on Thursday to solidify expectations of a significant rate reduction by the central American bank.
On the New York stock exchange, shares of Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of Paddy Power, were trading approximately at $189 at 6pm Irish local time.