Global stocks were largely flat after their best two-day rally since November, with traders sifting through a batch of corporate earnings for clues on the outlook for corporate America amid growing concern of a recession.
Dublin
Euronext Dublin outperformed its international peers, finishing the day up 0.7 per cent on the back of a 3 per cent climb by budget airline Ryanair.
The Irish banks also performed well, with AIB up 1.7 per cent and Bank of Ireland up 2.4 per cent after it applied a three-quarter percentage point rise across its range of fixed-rate loans offered to new borrowers.
“The banks did pretty well across the board, but definitely the headline about increasing rates helped Bank or Ireland’s stock price,” noted one trader. “The view is it will be more profitable for the bank.”
In the paper and packaging sector, Smurfit Kappa traded up 1 per cent and its peer DS Smith was up 1.8 per cent.
Dalata, the biggest hotel operator in the State, gave up 0.5 per cent. “It’s still been on a pretty extraordinary run in recent times,” a trader said. Elsewhere, Ires Reit, Ireland’s biggest private landlord, closed up 3.7 per cent.
London
The FTSE 100 closed down 0.35 per cent, dragged by the retail and pharmaceutical sectors.
The largest movers were Rolls-Royce, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Aer Lingus parent International Airlines Group, which were all up between 2.5 and 3 per cent.
Elsewhere, housebuilder Taylor Wimpey was up 2 per cent, while in the gaming sector Paddy Power Betfair parent Flutter Entertainment was up 2 per cent, while its peer Whitbread climbed 1.8 per cent.
On the downside, AstraZeneca was down 3 per cent, while Tesco fell 2 per cent.
Europe
The euro held near a nine-month high against the dollar, though European stocks eased after regional business activity data reinforced expectations that the European Central Bank will raise rates by a further 50 basis points.
Euro-zone business activity made a surprise return to growth in January, according to a survey – the latest sign that the downturn in the bloc may not be as deep as feared.
S&P Global’s flash Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index climbed to 50.2 this month from 49.3 in December, the first time it has been above the 50 mark since June.
Europe’s broad Stoxx 600 index lost 0.4 per cent after the numbers, which analysts said suggests the ECB can continue to raise rates to curtail inflation, without worrying too much about damaging growth. The German Dax and the French CAC were both largely flat at close at business.
“For the ECB, this should seal the deal for a 50-basis point hike next week,” said ING economists in a note.
New York
US stock indexes fell after industry bellwethers 3M, Johnson & Johnson and General Electric beat expectations for profit but warned of a challenging year ahead.
Industrial conglomerate 3M fell 5.9 per cent, leading the decliners among Dow components after reporting a fall in quarterly profit.
Verizon Communications dropped 0.4 per cent after forecasting annual profit below estimates, while Johnson & Johnson fell 0.5 per cent as it warned that its medical devices business would be hit in the first half of 2023 due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in China.
General Electric fell 1.1 per cent on a disappointing profit forecast for the year, despite topping quarterly earnings estimates.
Wall Street’s main indexes started the earnings- and data-heavy week on a strong note amid renewed appetite for growth stocks following a battering last year.
After logging its biggest gain in more than two months on Monday, Advanced Micro Devices slipped 2.8 per cent as Bernstein downgraded it to “market-perform” from “outperform”.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index dropped 0.9 per cent to slip from its one-month high.
At 10.20am eastern time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.32 per cent; the S&P 500 was down 0.43 per cent; and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.34 per cent. – Additional reporting: agencies
