In contrast to an early week high, European stocks remained static on Friday as mounting conflicts in the Middle East dampened some of the enduring faith in the anticipated rate cuts foreseen by the European Central Bank.
Dublin
On Friday, Dublin’s market experienced a slight dip, rounding off the day about 1% lower. The main contributory factor was a decrease in Ryanair stocks, which plummeted 2.64% over the course of the day, following a previous drop of over 3%. Additionally contributing to the downturn were the Bank of Ireland and AIB, which saw their stocks down by 0.5% to €9.77 and 0.8% to just under €4.80 respectively. Smurfit Kappa, a packaging giant, also saw a decrease of 0.6% ending the week at €41.39, in contrast to their gains in the previous trading session. Conversely, one of the few companies experiencing an upturn on Friday was Kerry Group, securing a meagre gain of 0.19% following a 2.75% rise the previous day.
London
London’s principal index, the FTSE 100, climbed to a near-record closing figure on Friday due to the escalation of raw material rates boosting oil and mining stocks. This was in conjunction with data suggesting the UK’s sluggish economy is set to recover from a minor recession. The FTSE 100 exceeded the 8,000 benchmark at its peak before ending 0.9% higher at 7,995.58, marginally below its highest ever closing figure of 8,014.31 which was set in February 2023. BP stock rose by 3.7% upon news from Reuters that BP’s acquisition was contemplated by the state-owned oil company of the United Arab Emirates, though it didn’t proceed past initial talks. The FTSE 250 mid-cap index saw a slight decline of 0.3%, amidst fears relating to surging fuel charges which resulted in an 8.2% drop in Wizz Air stocks. Other airline stocks including EasyJet and IAG, the parent company of British Airways, fell by 4.3% and 3.8% respectively. R&Q Insurance plunged by 45.4% to an all-time low after the Bermuda-based insurance company forecasted a substantial annual pretax loss.
Europe
The STOXX 600 of pan-European shares ended its day slightly higher at a 0.1 per cent gain, despite having risen to 1.2 per cent earlier. However, it experienced its second consecutive weekly drop. The luxury market, burdened by a 1.2 per cent and 3 per cent decline in LVMH and Richemont respectively, contracted 1.3 per cent, hitting a near two-month trough.
Shares of Orsted leaped 4.5 per cent, while Evotec saw an increase of 3.5 per cent, following Deutsche Bank’s reclassification of the German biotech firm from “hold” to “buy”. Furthermore, Societe Generale grew by 2.1 per cent after deciding to sell its subsidiary, Société Générale Marocaine de Banques, and La Marocaine Vie to the Saham Group, a Moroccan conglomerate, for a total of €745 million.
On the other hand, Varta, a German battery manufacturer, suffered a sharp decline of 31.1 per cent after declaring its restructuring initiative would not turn the company profitable by 2026.
In New York, the blue-chip Dow and the S&P 500 were on a trajectory for weekly losses after numerous large-cap growth stocks, chipmakers, and sizeable banks drew back following negative quarterly earnings outcomes.
JPMorgan Chase saw a 5.9 per cent drop due to its lower than expected interest earnings predictions, while Citigroup’s shares dipped 2.8 per cent after a first-quarter profit drop. The S&P 500 banks index dropped 3.3 per cent, reaching its lowest in almost a month.
Megacap growth stocks, including Nvidia, Tesla, and Meta Platforms each suffered over a 1 per cent drop. Chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices and Intel witnessed a 4 per cent and 3.6 per cent fall respectively following reports of Chinese officials advising the nation’s telecom giants earlier in the year to gradually remove foreign chips pivotal to their networks by 2027. Further reporting was undertaken by Reuters.