Stock Market News (US Open) – Stoxx 600 reverses gains to trade flat; S&P 500 posts fresh record high
October 16, 2017 2:28 pm
At 1330 GMT and as US traders were beginning their trading day, the Stoxx 600 was roughly flat relative to where it closed on Friday, having reversed earlier gains that saw it record a four-month high of 392.42. Basic materials was the pan-European index’s best performing industry sector on a day when copper prices rallied, boosting mining firms.
The FTSE 100 was 0.1% higher, while the DAX and CAC 40 traded up by 0.2% and 0.25% on the day respectively. The Spanish IBEX 35 remained the worst performing major blue-chip index in Europe, being down by 0.5%. The benchmark was weighed by uncertainty over Catalonia’s bid for independence and the sharply falling stock of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (down 6.4%) after the company issued a profit warning on Friday. The wind turbine maker will be announcing results for fiscal year 2017 on November 6. In the latest developments in Catalonia, it seems to be the case now that Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has until Thursday to back down from an independence declaration otherwise the Spanish government will take actions which could include restricting the region’s autonomy.
UK PM Theresa May will be having dinner with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker later today in what is seen as an effort to break the impasse in Brexit negotiations.
Provident Financial and ConvaTec Group remained the Stoxx 600’s best and worst performing stocks respectively. The former, up by 6.7%, is supported on the back of its latest attempts to revive its home credit business. ConvaTec Group, down by a massive 26.6%, was on a negative footing after cutting its full-year organic revenue growth forecasts. The medical technology company is also a FTSE 100 component stock and led losses in the UK index.
Miners Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Glencore and Anglo American all made the top-10 list of FTSE outperformers, being helped by the increase in copper prices after more upbeat growth forecasts for China, the world’s second largest economy. Their gains were ranging from 3.35% to 1.9% (in the order written) with Antofagasta sitting on top of the list of the FTSE’s biggest daily gainers.
The energy sector was also on the rise, benefitting from higher oil prices on the back of tensions between Iraqi forces and Kurds potentially disrupting supplies.
Daimler, the Mercedes maker, last traded up by 0.8%. The company is proceeding with a new structure that might result in its Mercedes Benz cars and vans and its Daimler trucks divisions split into separate entities. The vehicle maker is a DAX component stock.
With the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all opened higher by 0.2%, 0.15% and 0.25% respectively. The S&P also posted a fresh all-time high.
Netflix will be reporting Q3 earnings after the market close with investment banking giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley also reporting results before the markets open for trading tomorrow.
Adobe will be gathering attention after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to “hold” from “buy”. Groupon is expected to benefit after being upgraded to “market perform” from “underperform” by broker Cowen & Co.
Similar to their European counterparts, US miners and energy stocks will also be in focus.
At 1330 GMT and as US traders were beginning their trading day, the Stoxx 600 was roughly flat relative to where it closed on Friday, having reversed earlier gains that saw it record a four-month high of 392.42. Basic materials was the pan-European index’s best performing industry sector on a day when copper prices rallied, boosting mining firms.
The FTSE 100 was 0.1% higher, while the DAX and CAC 40 traded up by 0.2% and 0.25% on the day respectively. The Spanish IBEX 35 remained the worst performing major blue-chip index in Europe, being down by 0.5%. The benchmark was weighed by uncertainty over Catalonia’s bid for independence and the sharply falling stock of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (down 6.4%) after the company issued a profit warning on Friday. The wind turbine maker will be announcing results for fiscal year 2017 on November 6. In the latest developments in Catalonia, it seems to be the case now that Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has until Thursday to back down from an independence declaration otherwise the Spanish government will take actions which could include restricting the region’s autonomy.
UK PM Theresa May will be having dinner with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker later today in what is seen as an effort to break the impasse in Brexit negotiations.
Provident Financial and ConvaTec Group remained the Stoxx 600’s best and worst performing stocks respectively. The former, up by 6.7%, is supported on the back of its latest attempts to revive its home credit business. ConvaTec Group, down by a massive 26.6%, was on a negative footing after cutting its full-year organic revenue growth forecasts. The medical technology company is also a FTSE 100 component stock and led losses in the UK index.
Miners Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Glencore and Anglo American all made the top-10 list of FTSE outperformers, being helped by the increase in copper prices after more upbeat growth forecasts for China, the world’s second largest economy. Their gains were ranging from 3.35% to 1.9% (in the order written) with Antofagasta sitting on top of the list of the FTSE’s biggest daily gainers.
The energy sector was also on the rise, benefitting from higher oil prices on the back of tensions between Iraqi forces and Kurds potentially disrupting supplies.
Daimler, the Mercedes maker, last traded up by 0.8%. The company is proceeding with a new structure that might result in its Mercedes Benz cars and vans and its Daimler trucks divisions split into separate entities. The vehicle maker is a DAX component stock.
With the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all opened higher by 0.2%, 0.15% and 0.25% respectively. The S&P also posted a fresh all-time high.
Netflix will be reporting Q3 earnings after the market close with investment banking giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley also reporting results before the markets open for trading tomorrow.
Adobe will be gathering attention after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to “hold” from “buy”. Groupon is expected to benefit after being upgraded to “market perform” from “underperform” by broker Cowen & Co.
Similar to their European counterparts, US miners and energy stocks will also be in focus.
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