The week ends with another black friday for international markets due to powerful sales in the chip sectorAfter a banner year, investors have begun to withdraw from heavy positions in the semiconductor sector, with concerns about massive spending on artificial intelligence once again becoming relevant. Following the collapse of Nasdaq yesterday, today is Tokyo leading the declines, with the Kospi closed for holidays, while the 'India benefits from it. Meanwhile, attacks and mutual threats between Iran and the US continue in the Middle East, limiting transit in the Strait of Hormuz and keeping the price under tension PetroleumEuropean stock markets are also expected to open lower.
Oil prices are under pressure due to ongoing attacks and threats between the US and Iran.
The prices of Petroleum they increased after that United States and Iran have intensified attacks in the Gulf, while oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz are limited. Last night, the United States Central Command announced that American forces had begun "a new wave of attacks against Iran for the sixth consecutive night to further weaken Iranian military capabilities." Tehran responded with missiles and drones targeting US military bases in neighboring states, including a bombing of an air base in Jordan. Adding to concerns about oil supplies, the Iranian leadership warned its allies Houthi to be ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States attacks Iranian energy infrastructure, according to reports Reuters. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense of the Qatar said its forces thwarted an Iranian missile attack in the early hours of Friday.
Oil futures Brent rose to $84,93 a barrel, while crude oil futures West Texas Intermediate US crude reached $79,76 a barrel, erasing the previous session's losses. Both benchmark contracts rose nearly 12% this week, with Brent on track for its third consecutive weekly gain and WTI on track for its second weekly gain.
Wall Street closed lower yesterday, weighed down by the chip sector. SpaceX was weak. Healthcare gained.
Semiconductor stocks dragged the Nasdaq and S&P 500 down yesterday despite overall positive economic data and a strong start to the earnings season. The decline in Dow Jones of 0,20% and that of S & P 500 of 0,51% is nothing compared to the sharp decline of Nasdaq of 1,47%. Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 Index, the technological fell 1,8%, with stocks down 4,3% semiconductorsChip stocks have gradually influenced the overall performance, as their weight within the index has risen to over 20% from around 8% in three or four years, analysts say. Looking at the rest of the market, it's doing well.
The weakness of the semiconductor sector, even after Tsmc, a key indicator of demand, posted a 77% jump in quarterly earnings, demonstrating the high expectations for an industry that has gained nearly 70% since the beginning of the year. The chipmaker's U.S.-listed shares fell 2,3%. Memory chipmakers were among the hit, with SanDisk, Western Digital, Seagate Technology and Intel down between 5,8% and 12,6%. The Dow Jones losses were partially mitigated by a 1,2% gain in UnitedHealth Group after the company beat Wall Street earnings estimates and raised its 2026 forecast. Stocks in the healthcare sector rose 2,2%.
Analysts have set high standards for the second-quarter earnings season. Companies in the S&P 500 index, as a whole, are expected to post a earnings growth 24,8% year-over-year. Technology sector earnings alone are expected to increase 65,5% compared to the same quarter a year earlier, according to the latest available data from LSEG.
SpaceX SpaceX closed down 3% at $131,11 and lost another 4% in after-hours trading, hitting new post-IPO lows around $127. Its market cap has shrunk to $1.725 billion. The stock has already fallen well below its initial offering price of $135. Meanwhile, SpaceX also had to cancel the thirteenth test flight of its Starship rocket just minutes before liftoff from Texas. CEO Elon Musk said that some of the spacecraft's engines failed to ignite, triggering the automatic abort of the launch. He added that the next launch attempt will be "hopefully in a few days." This represents a potential setback for SpaceX, given that Starship is the company's largest and most powerful rocket. The vehicle is critical to SpaceX's planned missions to Earth orbit and potentially to the Moon and Mars, and has experienced repeated engine problems.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei plunges 5,5%. Korea is closed for holidays. India's stock market rises.
Even in Asia Pacific the week ends with a semiconductor company stocks fall, despite the positive indications on the business trend that arrived yesterday from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing which lost 4% today. The MSCI Asia Pacific index, the area's benchmark, fell by 2%. The financial markets are closed. South Korea.
In JapanThe Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange is down 5,5%, accumulating a decline of 9% since the beginning of the month. kioxia, a chip manufacturing company that a few weeks ago had become the largest in the Nikkei in terms of market value, has lost 16%: from the peak in June, the stock has halved and its capitalization has fallen by 185 billion dollars. Japanese government has started the development program of anational infrastructure of physical artificial intelligence, entrusted to Noetra, the company established in January by a consortium of 44 Japanese industrial giants. The project, supported by public funding of one trillion yen, equivalent to approximately €5,4 billion over five years, represents one of the 17 priority areas identified by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government for the country's economic security and growth. The Ministry of Economy's stated goal is to introduce 10 million AI robots by 2040 to address the shortage of skilled labor and offset population decline. The Yen is increasingly weak against the dollar, at 162,4 from 162,1 yesterday. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama used even more forceful and threatening tones to warn those selling the yen, but the warnings were ineffective and the currency remains at its lowest level in the last forty years.
In ChinaHong Kong's Hang Seng Index is down 1,9%, up 7% since the beginning of the month. The CSI 300 in Shanghai and Shenzhen is down 2,5%. Taipei's Taiex is down 5%, down 6% since the beginning of the month. According to some sources, Shein has received the green light from the Hong Kong Listing Commission for its IPO. Meanwhile, the subscription rate for the'hypo of the Chinese memory chip giant Cxmt The $8,6 billion offering was significantly lower than most recent Chinese IPOs. China's foreign exchange regulator announced today the allocation of new quotas for foreign investment by qualified institutional investors, following a recent crackdown on illegal cross-border capital flows.
In India, the BSE Sensex index of the Mumbai Stock Exchange is up 0,7%, up 1,5% since the beginning of the month.SBI Fund Management IPO, India's largest equity issue so far this year, it attracted 41,6 times the demand for the offering, with a booking value of $31 billion. Lead investors SBI Funds Management aim to raise up to Rs 116,9 billion ($1,22 billion). SBI Fund Management is a joint venture between the State Bank of India and the European group Amundi.
The is on track to record its biggest weekly loss in six weeks in the area, accumulating a -3,4% in the 3.980 dollar an ounce area.
European stock markets saw a decline at the start. At the Milan Stock Exchange, eyes are on MPS, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Inwit.
European stock markets are also expected to open lower: Eurostoxx50 futures fell by 0,9%.
Eni During a parliamentary hearing, CEO Claudio Descalzi said that gas prices in Europe could be high in January due to the disruption of Russian supplies and low storage levels. Regarding Hormuz, Descalzi said the risk associated with flows from the Middle East will be higher than before, even after the conflict ends. This is why investments are shifting to Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Inwit Fastweb is testing its Starlink Direct-to-Direct (D2D) satellite service in Italy. The impact on the tower sector is not currently considered particularly negative, but the risk could increase in the future.
MPS, Intesa Sanpaolo The Siena-based bank's board of directors has indicated that the implicit premium offered by Intesa is lower than the average for comparable transactions and that the announced synergies appear high compared to the economic size of the scope of the combination. Analysis of the proposed merger with Banco BPM, which could constitute a potential industrial combination, is continuing.
nexi – PayPal says the $53 billion offered by Stripe and Advent is too little.
Stellantis The Turin-based FIOM-CGIL union has announced that there will be another two days of production shutdown at Mirafiori. This is according to the union. Mr.
