Feb 5 – A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Stella Qiu:
Conviction was high that major U.S. tech firms would deliver another impressive quarter of strong sales and rosy outlooks and so investors added to their exposures before this earnings season. That has proved to be a costly mistake.
Google parent Alphabet released solid results after the bell, but it also shocked analysts by targeting capital expenditures of $175 billion to $185 billion this year, way above Wall Street’s estimates.
That only added to fears about exploding artificial intelligence investment. Given that valuations are already sky-high and signs that some of our jobs – in data analytics or software – are already replaceable by AI, there seems to be only one way to go: down.
Alphabet shares swung wildly after hours – down over 6% at one point – before settling 0.4% lower. One would expect the rising AI spending would benefit a chip maker like Nvidia.
Indeed, Nvidia shares were up 2% after the bell, but equipment providers in Asia are deep in the red, with South Korea down 3.5% and Taiwan off 1%.
Wall Street futures attempted a recovery but quickly lost momentum as selling spread to precious metals, with silver sinking 14% and gold well below $5,000 per ounce.
European futures point to a lower open ahead of policy decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. Both are expected to hold rates steady.
The ECB will likely signal that no policy move is imminent, even if the euro’s recent surge against the dollar fuels concerns that inflation might undershoot its target.
The BoE, on the other hand, is expected to leave its options open about when it will cut rates again as it waits to be sure that a weakening jobs market will push down on inflation pressures.
Key developments that could influence markets on Thursday:
ECB and BoE policy meeting, January PMI data for euro zone, Germany and France
(By Stella Qiu; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
