European stocks halted after weeks of French political chaos seemed to be coming to a climax, whilst primary Wall Street indices hit new peaks in anticipation of an eagerly awaited earnings season.
DUBLIN
Irish bank shares’ significant leaps contributed to a 1.5% increase in the Iseq index on Monday, outstripping most of its European counterparts. Bank of Ireland and AIB escalated by 3.5% and 3.3% to €10.09 and €5.17 per share, respectively. Despite the absence of sector-specific news, Dublin traders indicated that the recent unloading of a portion of the Government’s remaining stake in AIB had evidently eased some selling pressure.
Predictions of future housing demand within the Republic may also be fuelling optimism for banking stocks. Cairn Homes continues to interest investors, with the homebuilder’s shares climbing by more than 2.1% to €1.82 per share, while competitor Glenveagh ascended 1.4%.
Ryanair climbed 2.2% to €17.20 per share, slightly underperforming when compared to its UK and European counterparts, who have seen positive trends in recent days.
Following their merger with US competitor WestRock, Smurfit Kappa delisted from Dublin, opting for a primary listing on Wall Street. The newly amalgamated Smurfit WestRock will maintain a standard listing in London, hence bringing a close to a Dublin market affiliation that dates back to 1964.
LONDON
Pressured by commodity stocks, the resource-dense FTSE 100 dropped 0.9% in trading, whereas the mid-cap FTSE 250 declined just over 0.1%.
Britvic, a British soft drink firm with substantial Irish ties surged 4.5% in trading after consenting to be bought by Carlsberg for £3.3 billion (€3.9 billion), surpassing earlier offers.
Ocado rolled towards the pinnacle of the mid-cap index with a 6.3% leap following an enhancement of its alliance with Japan’s Aeon, announcing plans to construct a third robotic warehouse.
IAG, the parent company of Aer Lingus, saw its shares rise close to 2 per cent following the Dublin Labour Court’s suggestion for a 17.75 per cent increase in pilot pay by mid-2026, a measure aimed at resolving a dispute that resulted in the cancellation of 550 flights. On the flip side, stocks for industrial and precious metal mining companies, including Rio Tinto, Antofagasta and Anglo American, decreased by around 1 to 1.2 per cent as gold and spot metal prices fell.
In Europe, the primary indices showed little movement, struggling to find a trajectory. Some investor concerns were eased by news that the left-wing New Popular Front in France, the surprising victors of Sunday’s second-round elections, doesn’t possess enough seats to form a government. The Cac40 saw a drop of 0.5 per cent. Aerospace and defence Group Safran climbed by 1.5 per cent while pharmaceutical group Sanofi experienced a 1.2 per cent advance. However, luxury names such as LVMH and Gucci parent company Kering saw a 2.8 per cent decrease, with Pernod Ricard, owner of Jameson, slipping 1.2 per cent.
Over in New York, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new highs on Monday, and the Dow Jones also climbed to its highest point in over a month. Investors are eagerly awaiting a key inflation report, a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and the commencement of the earnings season. Semiconductor stocks, including Nvidia, Intel, Marvell Technology, Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm, ranging between 1 and 5 per cent, assisted the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index to gain 2 per cent. This coming Friday, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are set to begin the Q2 earnings season, with banks’ shares seeing a nearly 1 per cent rise for the day.
Boeing enjoyed a 2.3 per cent increase in its share price after agreeing to a guilty plea for a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and a fine of €224.9 million ($243.6 million) to settle a US Justice Department investigation into its actions following two fatal 737 Max crashes.