Global stocks edged higher on Wednesday and oil prices dipped as traders eyed talks to end the Iran war and investors weighed ower demand forecasts.
US inflation data showing only a slight rise in inflation dampened some expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike. Money markets had shown a roughly 50 per cent chance of a hike heading into the data release.
The data “relieves some of the concerns that the Fed is being pushed toward a rate hike due to inflation, which is being fuelled by higher energy prices,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Dublin
Insulation specialist Kingspan saw its shares jump 7.5 per cent to €103.80 after the company signalled a landmark expansion of its data centre business with the purchase for up to €900 million of BMC Manufacturing Group.
RM Block
The purchase, which was announced after Irish markets closed on Tuesday, is Kingspan’s largest acquisition to date. It comes just days after the Cavan-based building materials group paused a €650 million share buyback programme to “appraise potential opportunities” in its acquisition pipeline.
Ryanair shares rose by 0.7 per cent to €24.90 amid a softening of oil prices linked to a potential peace deal in the Middle East, while shares in Ireland’s biggest private landlord Ires Reit rose by almost 1 per cent in advance of third quarter results later this week.
AIB also rose by 1 per cent to €10.82 while rival Bank of Ireland closed the session marginally down at €18.92 in a change of fortunes from Tuesday.
London
London’s FTSE 100 closed lower on Wednesday for the third straight day, as investors cautiously monitored efforts to end the war in the Middle East, while home builder Balfour Beatty soared to a record high after raising its annual forecast.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed 0.1 per cent down at 10,833.15 points. The midcap FTSE 250 ticked up 0.1 per cent to 24,814.88 points.
Shares of precious metal miners Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining firmed up, tracking higher gold prices after data showed US inflation rose in line with expectations, bolstering bets that the Federal Reserve will keep rates on hold in September.
Britain’s new prime minister Andy Burnham said in an interview with the BBC that his government will do what it can to help lower costs for business, though he acknowledged a “difficult financial outlook”.
Europe
European shares pulled back from record highs on Wednesday, as investors digested corporate earnings reports and developments in the Middle East. The pan-European STOXX 600 closed 0.16 per cent lower at 659 points.
Among individual movers, Nokia jumped 9.6 per cent following a better-than-expected forecast from US optical component maker Lumentum.
Investors elsewhere were also digesting corporate earnings. Bilfinger dropped 5.4 per cent, after the German industrial services provider trimmed its full-year margin expectations.
Danish wind turbine maker Vestas soared 19.7 per cent after raising its full-year outlook for earnings margin.
New York
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both rose on Wednesday as upbeat earnings from AI infrastructure companies boosted technology stocks in general, while largely in-line inflation data reinforced bets the US Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady in September.
The S&P 500 information technology sector jumped 1.2 per cent, leading sector gains on the benchmark index as investors bet on AI-fuelled demand sustaining momentum.
CoreWeave surged 19 per cent after the AI cloud company lifted its annual capital spending forecast and topped second-quarter earnings estimates.
Other AI infrastructure providers also rose, including data centre operators Iren and Applied Digital, which gained 7 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively. Neocloud company Nebius Group jumped 25 per cent, helped by second-quarter results.
Super Micro Computer topped the S&P 500 with a 15 per cent climb after the AI-server maker forecast fiscal 2027 revenue above Wall Street expectations.
Chipmakers also gained, with Nvidia rising 2.6 per cent and Micron Technology adding 6.4 per cent. The broader semiconductor index advanced about 3.1 per cent and was on track for its biggest one-day jump in more than a week. – Additional reporting by Reuters
