Global shares slip as China data raises slowdown fears

Global Shares slipped on Tuesday after China’s growth in 2022 slumped, halting the new year rally and keeping investors on edge over a possible global recession.

Dublin

The Iseq Overall Index finished up 0.1 per cent with trading on the muted side as below-average volumes of stocks were traded.

The only sector that saw high volume was financials. Bank of Ireland was up 2 per cent, making back some of the ground it lost in trading on Monday, after 2.5 million shares were traded. AIB meanwhile was flat after seven million shares were traded.

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Among the airlines, Ryanair fell just under 1 per cent, largely in line with the aviation sector.

Elsewhere, Kerry Group gained 2.5 per cent after a strong end to trading, while Dalata – the biggest hotel operator in the State – finished the day down 3 per cent.

Building materials group CRH, which is the biggest player on the Irish market, slipped 0.5 per cent.

Box-maker Smurfit Kappa finished the day down 0.4 per cent

London

The UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 finished the day down 0.1 per cent, but was still within a hair’s breadth of hitting a record high.

Utilities, industrials, and energy stocks outperformed, while consumer stocks and retail “gave up a bit of ground,” noted a trader. “The financials were also a bit lower.”

Shares of Ocado Group fell 6.6 per cent after its online joint venture Ocado Retail said its customers purchased fewer items per order in the run-up to Christmas in response to the cost-of-living crisis.

THG slid 5.1 per cent after the online retail platform warned on profit as its revenue growth missed its target. Shares of Hays gained 2.2 per cent after the British recruitment agency reported a rise in its second-quarter net fees.

Europe

European shares slipped in early trading, taking a breather from their sharp rally since the start of this year.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 slipped after hitting its highest level in nine months in the previous session. Rate-sensitive tech stocks declined 0.8 per cent.

The benchmark index still gained nearly 7 per cent in an upbeat start to the year, spurred by hopes of a rebound in China’s economy, easing of price pressures and growing expectations of a milder-than-expected recession.

Data on Tuesday showed German inflation eased further in the final month of 2022, confirming preliminary data.

New York

Wall Street’s main indexes dropped as Goldman Sachs missed quarterly profit estimates, worsening sentiment already dented by concerns of a slowdown in China’s economic growth.

Goldman Sachs fell 3.5 per cent after the bank reported a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly profit, weighing the most on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Morgan Stanley jumped 4.4 per cent as it beat analysts’ estimates for fourth-quarter profit as its trading business got a boost from market volatility.

Shares of Microsoft were a drag on the Nasdaq, falling 0.4 per cent, after Guggenheim downgraded them to “sell” from “neutral”, cautioning of a likely disappointing full-year outlook.

Other Big Tech and growth stocks such as Amazon.com and Apple were mixed, while Tesla shares were up 4 per cent, keeping the pressure off the benchmark S&P 500.

The S&P 500 energy and consumer staples sectors were up about 0.6 per cent each, while financial stocks fell 0.6 per cent.

US-listed stocks of Chinese companies such as JD. Com, Baidu, and Bilibili fell between 4.9 per cent and 6.4 per cent after China’s economic growth in 2022 slumped to one of its worst levels in nearly half a century.

In early trading the Dow Jones was down 0.43 per cent; the S&P 500 down 0.06 per cent; and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.22 per cent. (Additional reporting: Agencies)