Stock markets recovered Friday from the shock of disappointing earnings
reports of giant tech firms that added to fears of a global recession according
to traders.
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The week has seen forecast-missing results from some of the world's biggest
firms including Apple, Amazon, Facebook parent
Meta and Google parent Alphabet.
That has caused sharp share-price losses for some of the titans, in turn
sending values tumbling for tech companies worldwide.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite opened lower Friday, but quickly followed
the Dow and S&P 500 higher.
"It has been a week of mostly disappointing results from US tech
giants, putting significant pressure on the Nasdaq," said market analyst
Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and FOREX.com.
Amazon, which on Thursday predicted a slowdown in sales growth during the
year-end holiday shopping season after reporting a drop in third quarter
earnings, saw its shares slump around 10 percent as trading got under way on
Friday.
Even if the Nasdaq moved higher, "there’s a good chance the tech-heavy
index could fall again as we head towards the end of the week," he added.
Most European markets also pulled higher in the half hour after Wall Street
began trading.
Investors have in fact been looking for data showing that the US Federal
Reserve's rate hikes are beginning to slow inflation and the economy, which
they hope will convince policymakers to slow or pause further interest rate
hikes.
Meanwhile, the latest batch of US economic data showed prices and wages
continuing to rise, and consumers also continuing to spend for the moment.
Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com said the latest figures "are unlikely to
prompt the Fed to reconsider its aggressive rate hike plans."
In foreign exchange Friday, the euro was back below parity against the
dollar following official data showing the US economy rebounded in the third
quarter.
Surprise figures showing Europe's biggest economy Germany had also expanded
in the July-September period failed to push the euro above one dollar, where it
stood earlier in the week for the first time since September.
Elsewhere, the yen was down against the dollar after Japan's Prime Minister
Fumio Kishida said the country would spend $260 billion on a stimulus package
to cushion the weak economy.
The yen has plunged to 32-year lows versus the dollar in recent weeks as
Japan's central bank refuses to hike interest rates despite sky-high inflation,
fuelled by soaring energy prices.
ExxonMobil on Friday reported a surge in third-quarter earnings on high oil
and natural gas prices.
The US oil giant became the latest petroleum heavyweight to report stunning
quarterly figures, with year-on-year profits nearly tripling to $19.7 billion
on revenue soaring to $112 billion.
The company's share price dipped 0.2 percent at the start of trading.
Shares in Twitter were removed from trading on the NY stock exchange after
Elon Musk completed a mega takeover of the social media giant, with critics and
fans anxious to see how the planet's richest man runs one of the world's
leading social media platforms.
- Key figures
around 1330 GMT -
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 7,040.28 points
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.4 percent at 13,160.37
Paris - CAC 40: UP less than 0.1 percent at 6,247.60
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,594.15
New York - Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 32,202.82
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.9 percent at 27,105.20 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 3.7 percent at 14,863.06 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 2.3 percent at 2,915.93 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $0.9970 from $0.9965 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.1550 from $1.1567
Dollar/yen: UP at 147.65 yen from 146.27 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 86.30 pence from 86.11 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.0 percent at $88.20 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 0.9 percent at $96.11 per barrel
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