Text size
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin talks about the order to close the United States consulate in Chengdu.
fake pictures
Global stocks fell on Friday as political events swept away a wave of negativity in the markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 126 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 also decreased 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.6%, reducing previous losses by more than 1%.
Health care stocks recorded the biggest drops in the S&P 500 index around noon. The sector fell 1.1% when the President of the United States, Donald Trump, prepares to sign executive orders aimed at reducing drug prices. He is scheduled to sign orders after submitting comments at 3pm on Friday.
Beijing followed through on its threat to retaliate against the US after the Trump administration ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston. China ordered the United States to close its own consulate in Chengdu, as the dispute between the world’s two largest economies escalated on Friday.
Asian markets fell overnight, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 2.2%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 3.9% and Shenzhen Composite fell 5%. Geopolitical tensions coupled with the sale of technology on Wall Street on Thursday night ensured that sour sentiment spread to Europe. Pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 1.7%. The German DAX fell 2% and the French CAC was 1.5% lower.
After Intel (ticker: INTC) warned that production problems could delay the next generation of its nanometer chips by at least six months, European microchip companies Infineon Technologies and ASML crashed. Intel shares fell 15%.
Thursday’s lowest drop on Wall Street was led by Apple and Microsoft.,
accounting for more than half of the Dow’s losses, as weak employment data and concerns about another financial aid package from Congress appeared to trigger a sell-off in large-cap stocks. Tesla,
Amazon.com,
Netflix and Google’s father Alphabet fell.
There was some good news in Europe, but investors largely ignored it given the broader mood early Friday.
French business activity exceeded expectations in July, rebounding more than expected after the closure measures were lifted, according to the closely watched Purchasing Managers Index. The German manufacturing sector also avoided a contraction for the first time in 19 months. In other positive signs, UK retail sales rose 13.9% in June, beating consensus estimates of an 8.3% increase, with sales now higher than before the crisis.
Oil fell midday on Friday and the price of WTI crude oil fell 0.6% to $ 40.82 per barrel.
British Gas owner Centrica shot 17% after announcing a deal to sell its US energy business Direct Energy to NRG Energy for $ 3.6 billion.
Vodafone shares fell 4.7%, as the world’s second-largest mobile operator confirmed plans to list its tower businesses in Frankfurt next year. The company’s revenue fell 1.4% to € 10.5 billion ($ 12.2 billion) in the first fiscal quarter.
American Express (AXP) shares fell 0.9% in the mid-day trade, as the credit card issuer reported a sharp drop in profits and revenue, as spending on its cards by Luxury businesses and buyers declined due to extended requests to stay home.
Shares of E * TRADE Financial (ETFC) fell 0.5% despite management reporting a better-than-expected quarter on Thursday night, as a result of higher trading volume in response to volatility caused by the coronavirus crisis. Morgan Stanley (MS) will acquire E * TRADE later this year.
Shares of Goldman Sachs (GS) were changed shortly after the bank struck a $ 3.9 billion deal with Malaysia in the 1Malayia Development Berhad scandal. The scandal, in which the bank and 17 current and former directors were accused of misleading investors by more than $ 6.5 billion in bond sales, has long been a glut in stocks.
Write to Carleton English at [email protected]
.
