Global shares were mixed on Wednesday, with most big Wall Street equity indices nudging higher and European shares retreating.
Dublin
The picture at home was reasonably positive as Euronext Dublin outperformed European peers to finish the day up 0.7 per cent.
However, food group Glanbia had a day to forget as it sank 4.7 per cent. A trader suggested the move was rooted in a number of negative reports for peer groups rather than any stock specific news for the company itself.
“One of them was Bellring in the US, which published third quarter results that disappointed the market,” he said. “They were down a whopping 32 per cent on Tuesday and recovered about 5 per cent today.”
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In the same sector, food giant Kerry Group finished down 1 per cent.
Among the home builders, Glenveagh Properties was up 0.8 per cent, while Cairn Homes climbed 0.4 per cent.
It was a good day for the banks as Bank of Ireland and AIB climbed 4 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.
London
British equities closed marginally higher as investors assessed a slew of corporate earnings and awaited an expected Bank of England rate cut on Thursday.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.2 per cent, rising for a third consecutive session after touching a four-month low on Friday. The domestically focused midcap FTSE 250 rose 0.1 per cent.
Heavyweights Shell and BP boosted the benchmark index, up 1.3 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively. Shares of miner Fresnillo continued gains from the previous session with an 8.9 per cent rise.
Conversely, British healthcare stocks slipped 1.4 per cent after Trump said on Tuesday that Washington would initially place a “small tariff” on pharmaceutical imports, eventually increasing it to 250 per cent.
AstraZeneca and GSK were down 1.5 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively.
Europe
Shares in European pharmaceutical companies sank to a four-month low after Trump repeated his threats to introduce tariffs on drug imports “within the next week or so”.
Europe’s Stoxx Healthcare index slid by 2.8 per cent, falling to its lowest level since mid-April, shortly after the US president’s initial “liberation day” tariff announcements.
Bayer, the German maker of products including aspirin, was one of the top fallers in Europe. Its shares slumped 9.9 per cent after the company reported a 5 per cent drop in pretax profit, excluding one-off items, for the first half of the year.
The Cac 40 in Paris edged up 0.2 per cent, while the Dax 40 in Frankfurt rose 0.3 per cent.
New York
Wall Street gained, boosted by a string of largely upbeat corporate earnings, while growing expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut provided additional support.
At 11.18am eastern time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.22 per cent ahead; the S&P 500 advanced 0.54 per cent; and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.72 per cent.
Arista Networks was a standout, soaring 17.5 per cent to an all-time high after the cloud networking company projected current-quarter revenue above estimates.
McDonald’s was 2.8 per cent higher after the fast-food giant’s affordable menu drove global sales past expectations.
Global Payments also advanced 5.2 per cent after topping second-quarter profit forecasts, while Match Group, the parent of Tinder, jumped 14.1 per cent after surpassing revenue expectations for the same quarter.
Apple jumped 5.2 per cent, providing the biggest boost to the S&P 500 index, as a White House official said the company would announce a $100 billion domestic manufacturing pledge. The stock was on track for its biggest single-day jump in nearly three months.
In contrast, Advanced Micro Devices tumbled 7.7 per cent as its data centre chip revenue disappointed. Super Micro Computer plunged 20.7 per cent after missing fourth-quarter sales estimates, dragging rival Dell down 2.4 per cent. – Additional reporting: Agencies
