Stocks fell and oil prices rose on Tuesday as investors assessed the stalemate in the Iran conflict and news the United Arab Emirates was cutting ties with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, while concerns the artificial intelligence (AI) boom was losing momentum weighed on equity markets.
US bond prices also slid, with yields up on concern over the effect of high energy prices on inflation.
US president Donald Trump is unhappy with the latest Iranian proposal on resolving the war, a US official said, dampening hopes for resolution of a conflict that has disrupted energy supplies, fuelled inflation and killed thousands.
The two-month-long conflict is at an impasse and energy and other supplies are still failing to cross through the critical Strait of Hormuz.
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Dublin
Ryanair was the main anchor on the Dublin Stock Exchange on Tuesday, falling 2.4 per cent to €22.06. Rising oil prices did not help, neither did reports that the airline’s summer bookings may slow as a result of conflict in the Middle East.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said he was “increasingly less concerned” about Europe facing a jet-fuel shortage in the coming months but acknowledged summer ticket sales may take a hit because of the uncertainty surrounding the Iran war.
Home builder Cairn was up 0.7 per cent ahead of its annual general meeting later this week.
The bourse was, however, lifted by AIB and Bank of Ireland, which rose by 2.2 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively.
Europe
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.57 per cent. In corporate news, German biotechnology giant Bayer fell after it went before the US supreme court in a bid to bring thousands of lawsuits against its herbicide Roundup to an end.
Bayer acquired Roundup maker Monsanto for $63 billion (€54 billion) in 2018 and has faced years of litigation since the deal was completed, amid claims that glyphosate, an ingredient in the weedkiller, has been the cause of health issues, including cancer.
London
UK’s FTSE 100 edged higher on Tuesday, snapping a six-day losing streak, as energy stocks got a boost from BP’s stronger-than-expected first-quarter profit and higher crude prices due to persistent geopolitical tensions.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed 0.1 per cent higher at 10,332.79 points, while the midcap FTSE 250 slipped 0.8 per cent, down for a fourth day in a row.
BP shares rose 1.1 per cent after its first-quarter profit more than doubled year-on-year. Rival Shell also added 1.1 per cent, with both offering the biggest boost to the blue-chip index.
Tullow Oil surged 11.4 per cent after the West Africa-focused independent oil and gas producer forecast annual oil production to come in at the higher end of its outlook range after a strong start to the year.
Further aiding energy stocks’ advance was an extended rally in crude prices as the stand-off in the US-Iran war persisted.
Lender Barclays lost 0.2 per cent after reporting a smaller-than-expected share buyback and a hefty provision linked to the collapse of lender MFS.
New York
The Nasdaq Composite fell on Tuesday, underperforming the benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow, after a report that said OpenAI had missed its internal revenue target raised fresh concerns about the AI spending spree.
The Wall Street Journal reported that AI heavyweight OpenAI had missed internal targets for weekly users and revenue, and executives had raised concerns over the ChatGPT parent’s ability to support its massive spending on data centres.
Shares of Oracle, whose reliance on OpenAI for its cloud computing ambitions has been under scrutiny, fell 4.1 per cent.
Chip stocks also dropped, with Nvidia, AMD and Arm Holdings down 3.5 per cent, 5 per cent and 8.8 per cent, respectively. Nvidia-backed CoreWeave slid 6.2 per cent.
“Any misstep involving AI-related demand or capital budget expenditures from one of the four Magnificent 7 companies reporting Wednesday could easily give this market second thoughts about how far it has run in the past month,” wrote Dennis Follmer, chief investment officer at Montis Financial.
Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet are among several companies reporting results on Wednesday. – Additional reporting: Reuters
