Stocks stayed in close proximity to record peaks on Wall Street as general sentiment were influenced by remarks made by Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell. His statements influenced the prevailing belief that there would be a rate cut by the central bank before the year’s end.
In Dublin, Euronext Dublin fell by 30 basis points upon market close, nevertheless it outperformed its European contemporaries. These were impacted negatively by the unstable political climate in France. Ryanair’s stock, which ended the day down 29 basis points, bolstered the market. Amongst the financial stocks, AIB fell by 35 points but Bank of Ireland rose by 40 basis points. Amongst the food and drinks companies, Kerry Group and Glanbia dropped 26 and 38 points respectively. Concerning property developers, Cairn Homes stocks decreased by 55 basis points at market close, whereas Glenveagh Properties climbed 1.3%.
In London, the FTSE 100 fell considerably by 0.66% on Tuesday. The significant decline in value of oil behemoth BP’s shares played a significant role in this. The optimism seen at the start of trading diminished as the day went on, caused by a weakening of housebuilders and retailers. BP’s shares decreased by 4.3% to 454.25p, after the company predicted an impairment charge of up to $2 billion (€1.9 billion) in its second quarter. The company was preparing for losses linked to “post-tax asset impairments and associated onerous contract provisions”.
Recruitment firm PageGroup was heavily in the negative after it projected a decline in annual earnings, and announced subsequent reductions to its workforce in response to lower global employment activity. Its shares dropped by 3.98% to 405.8p after it revealed its gross profits decreased 12% to £224.3 million (€265 million) in the three months leading up to the conclusion of June and worsened throughout the quarter.
Shares of luxury bag manufacturer Mulberry trended positively on Tuesday, following the dismissal of its besieged CEO, Thierry Andretta, after the company’s value dipped significantly in the previous year.
Andrea Baldo, previous CEO of Danish fashion house Ganni, is set to take up her new role in September, in the hopes of boosting flagging sales within a tough industry environment. The share price experienced a 3.6% jump to 106.2p.
In other stock market news, the gift card supplier Moonpig observed a share surge of 3.6% to 201p after Deutsche Bank brokers expressed optimism regarding consumer confidence and upped their grading of the company.
On the European scene, the Stoxx Europe 600 index dipped 0.5%, while France’s Cac 40 and Germany’s Dax index respectively closed 1.56% and 1.34% lower. However, the MSCI World Index remained relatively stable.
Yields for Euro zone government bonds saw a slight increase, primarily due to Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s announcement that despite being above its 2% goal, inflation has seen improvement. Subsequently, the yield on Germany’s 10-year bond, which serves as the euro zone’s standard, rose 4 basis points to 2.56%, up from 2.53% prior to Powell’s statement.
In New York, record-breaking performances by the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were witnessed, due to strong performances by chipmakers and large-cap stocks. It came as they listened to comments from Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve chairman, who noted that positive economic data would make a stronger case for reduced interest rates.
Nvidia, the preferred AI chip producer, saw its share price leap 4%, while Applied Materials and Micron Technology experienced growth of 2% and 3%, aiding the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index to hit an all-time high. The S&P 500 information technology index also reached a record level, as did heavyweight companies such as Alphabet and Apple. Simultaneously, shares for both Meta Platforms and Amazon.com increased by 0.9% and 0.3%.