Latest news with #DAX
The Star
a day ago
- Business
- The Star
Asia shares hit over three-year high; dollar struggles on Fed concerns
SINGAPORE: Asia shares hit their highest level in more than three years on Friday as they tracked a Wall Street rally, but the U.S. dollar struggled on concerns about the Federal Reserve's independence and expectations for early rate cuts. Stock indexes worldwide look set to end the week on a positive note, with worries about tensions in the Middle East and uncertainty over tariffs and trade deals on the backburner for now. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan hit its highest level since November 2021 early in the session, while the gauge of stocks across the globe hit another record high for the fourth straight session. EUROSTOXX 50 futures and DAX futures were both up more than 0.5%, while FTSE futures were little changed. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures tacked on 0.1% each. Reasons for the upbeat mood included news that Washington has reached an agreement with Beijing on how to expedite rare earth shipments to the United States. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said on Thursday that he had asked Republicans in Congress to scrap the Section 899 retaliatory tax proposal from their tax and spending bill after Washington reached an agreement with Group of Seven industrial countries. "That was something that had been making some investors, especially foreign investors, nervous when that provision was passed by the House. So if that provision gets removed, then that allays one of the concerns from foreign investors," said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ. "The cumuluation of these various ... positive developments all helped to contribute to the buoyant market mood we're seeing." Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.4% and surpassed the 40,000 mark for the first time in five months. Stocks in Hong Kong and mainland China traded marginally lower, though the CSI 300 index was on track for a 2.6% gain for the week, which would be the largest since November 2024. FED CUTS COMING Much of the focus for markets over the past two sessions has been on the prospect of an early change of guard at the Fed, after the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had toyed with the idea of selecting and announcing Fed Chair Jerome Powell's replacement by September or October. That knocked an already battered dollar even lower as traders fretted about an erosion of Fed independence and as they moved to price in more U.S. rate cuts this year. The dollar languished near a 3-1/2-year low on Friday and was headed for a 1.4% weekly loss, its largest decline in over a month. For the year, the greenback is already down more than 10% and if it stays that way in the next few days, that will mark its biggest first half-of-a-year fall since the start of the era of free-floating currencies in the early 1970s. Against a weaker dollar, the euro was perched near its highest in over three years at $1.1688. Sterling last bought $1.3725. "Trump's desire to 'shadow' the Fed using a designated replacement for Chair Jay Powell isn't a good way to promote the perceptions of integrity and autonomy in U.S. policymaking and, by extension, that of the reserve currency status of the U.S. dollar," said Thierry Wizman, global FX and rates strategist at Macquarie Group. Adding to the Fed cut bets has been a raft of weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data, with attention now shifting to Friday's release of the core PCE price index, the U.S. central bank's preferred measure of inflation. U.S. Treasury yields were steady in Asia after falling the previous session, with the two-year yield at 3.7418% and the benchmark 10-year yield last at 4.2573%. In commodities, oil prices were set for a weekly decline with the Iran-Israel ceasefire holding and easing concerns over Middle East supply risks. Brent crude futures were up 0.58% at $68.12 a barrel while U.S. crude rose 0.6% to $65.63 per barrel on Friday, but both were headed for a fall of more than 10% for the week. Spot gold fell 1% to $3,294.50 an ounce. - Reuters
Fashion United
a day ago
- Business
- Fashion United
Nike shares up, Adidas and Puma rise too
The US stock market reacted positively to Nike, which also gave the shares of the two German competitors Adidas and Puma a boost on Friday. Nike's shares rose by almost 10 percent in pre-market trading in the US. In regular trading, this would mean the highest level in more than three months. Adidas' shares rose by 3.8 percent to 199.40 euros, putting Adidas in the top position in the DAX. This was after the shares had fallen to their lowest level since April the day before, in an otherwise positive market. Over the whole of 2025, however, there is still a minus of approximately 16 percent. Puma's shares gained 4.8 percent on Friday, rising to 23.16 euros, the highest level since the end of May. Since the beginning of the year, the share price development, with a fall of 48 percent, is still very weak. Nike gave investors hope during its most recent quarterly update that the prolonged weak development was coming to an end. In addition, the company wants to gradually and fully compensate for the high additional costs caused by US import duties on products from production countries with other measures. The import duties have been a burden on the industry for some time. The sportswear giant also had to contend with declining revenue at the end of its 2024/2025 financial year. However, this decline was less severe than initially feared. For the first quarter of the new financial year, Nike expects a revenue decline of only around 5 percent, within the range of 1 to 9 percent. Analysts had expected a significantly weaker revenue forecast. However, the Americans did not give a concrete outlook for the new financial year, due to the uncertain situation regarding US trade policy, among other things. Nike's announcements were generally well received by analysts. The results, outlook and signals have greatly strengthened their confidence that the optimal scenario is slowly becoming a reality, noted Deutsche Bank Research analyst Krisztina Katai. The negative profit trend finally seems to be over. Randal Konik of investment bank Jefferies also viewed the development positively. Competitive pressure is decreasing, Nike is performing better and in the future it will be easier to surpass comparative figures. Matthew Boss, equity research analyst at JPMorgan, lowered his earnings expectations for the 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 financial years, but expects an average profit increase of 20 percent per year for Nike between 2026 and 2029. 'The worst is over,' wrote Lorraine Hutchinson of Bank of America. She expects a return to growth in the second half of the year. This article was translated to English using an AI tool. FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@
International Business Times
a day ago
- Business
- International Business Times
Nikkei Surpasses 40,000 as Global Stocks Rise, Dollar Sinks to 3.5-Year Low
Global stock markets finished the week on an upbeat note, lifted by optimism over interest rate cuts and receding geopolitical risks. MSCI's Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan was up 0.2%, a new high since November 2021, putting it on track for a 3% weekly gain. Japan's Nikkei surged 1.5%, punching above the 40,000 mark for the first time in five months. In Europe, EUROSTOXX 50 and DAX futures each rose 0.6%, while FTSE futures fell 0.16%. U.S. stock-index futures were steady after a strong performance by Wall Street on Thursday, where the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq each rose just under 1%, nearing record highs. The optimistic mood was supported by reports of better U.S.-China relations. Washington and Beijing agreed on faster rare earth shipments to the United States. While U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lobbied Congress to drop the controversial Section 899 tax proposal. These developments relieved investor angst, most notably among foreign investors. Fed Leadership Speculation Weighs on Dollar The dollar remained on the defensive, with concerns mounting about the future leadership and independence of the Federal Reserve. There were reports that President Trump could replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell as soon as September or October. This led traders to speculate even more on the idea of early rate cuts. The dollar fell to almost a three-and-a-half-year low and was headed for a weekly decline of 1.4%, which is the biggest in over a month. Year-to-date, the dollar is down over 10%, heading for its steepest first-half loss since the 1970s. The euro rose 0.6%, near a three-year high with a value of $1.1688, while the British pound was up by 0.2% to $1.3730. Analysts cautioned that Trump's idea to "shadow" the Fed could damage the central bank's autonomy and the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency. Economic Data and Commodities Weaker economic data from the U.S strengthened the expectation of a rate cut. Markets are looking ahead to the release of the core PCE inflation index on Friday, which is the Fed's preferred inflation measure. Asian treasury yields were flat, with the 2-year at 3.7418% and the 10-year at 4.2554%. Oil prices were on track for major weekly losses, although they edged up slightly on Friday. Brent crude climbed 0.41% to $68.01 per barrel, while U.S. crude added 0.46% to $65.53, although both were still down more than 10% for the week, as the Iran-Israel ceasefire relieved concerns of additional supply. Spot gold fell 0.23% to $3,320.25 per ounce.
CNBC
a day ago
- Business
- CNBC
European stocks set to extend gains after White House hints at tariffs extension
Good morning from London. European equities look set to extend yesterday's gains at the open on Friday. Futures tied to the FTSE 100 are marginally higher, while those tied to Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 indexes are up by 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively. It comes after the Trump administration said the July deadlines for so-called reciprocal tariffs "could be extended" and are "not critical." — Chloe Taylor U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a "One Big Beautiful" event at the White House in Washington, DC., U.S., June 26, 2025. Nathan Howard | Reuters President Donald Trump could extend looming deadlines for reimposing steep tariffs on imports from most of the world's countries, the White House said Thursday. Trump's July 8 and 9 deadlines for restarting tariffs on those nations are "not critical," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. "Perhaps it could be extended, but that's a decision for the president to make," Leavitt said. Leavitt also said Thursday that if any of those countries refuse to make a trade deal with the United States by the deadlines, "The president can simply provide these countries with a deal." In late May, Trump threatened to impose tariffs of 50% on imports from European Union nations, all of whom had already been subject to the reciprocal tariffs imposed in April. Read more here. — Kevin Breuninger
Business Recorder
a day ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Asia shares hit over three year high; dollar struggles on Fed concerns
SINGAPORE: Asia shares hit their highest level in more than three years on Friday as they tracked a Wall Street rally, but the U.S. dollar struggled on concerns about the Federal Reserve's independence and expectations for early rate cuts. Stock indexes worldwide look set to end the week on a positive note, with worries about tensions in the Middle East and uncertainty over tariffs and trade deals on the backburner for now. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan hit its highest level since November 2021 early in the session, while the gauge of stocks across the globe hit another record high for the fourth straight session. EUROSTOXX 50 futures and DAX futures were both up more than 0.5%, while FTSE futures were little changed. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures tacked on 0.1% each. Reasons for the upbeat mood included news that Washington has reached an agreement with Beijing on how to expedite rare earth shipments to the United States. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said on Thursday that he had asked Republicans in Congress to scrap the Section 899 retaliatory tax proposal from their tax and spending bill after Washington reached an agreement with Group of Seven industrial countries. 'That was something that had been making some investors, especially foreign investors, nervous when that provision was passed by the House. So if that provision gets removed, then that allays one of the concerns from foreign investors,' said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ. 'The cumuluation of these various … positive developments all helped to contribute to the buoyant market mood we're seeing.' Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.4% and surpassed the 40,000 mark for the first time in five months. Stocks in Hong Kong and mainland China traded marginally lower, though the CSI 300 index was on track for a 2.6% gain for the week, which would be the largest since November 2024. Asian stocks hesitant, dollar slides on Trump's attack on Powell Fed cuts coming Much of the focus for markets over the past two sessions has been on the prospect of an early change of guard at the Fed, after the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had toyed with the idea of selecting and announcing Fed Chair Jerome Powell's replacement by September or October. That knocked an already battered dollar even lower as traders fretted about an erosion of Fed independence and as they moved to price in more U.S. rate cuts this year. The dollar languished near a 3-1/2-year low on Friday and was headed for a 1.4% weekly loss, its largest decline in over a month. For the year, the greenback is already down more than 10% and if it stays that way in the next few days, that will mark its biggest first half-of-a-year fall since the start of the era of free-floating currencies in the early 1970s. Against a weaker dollar, the euro was perched near its highest in over three years at $1.1688. Sterling last bought $1.3725. 'Trump's desire to 'shadow' the Fed using a designated replacement for Chair Jay Powell isn't a good way to promote the perceptions of integrity and autonomy in U.S. policymaking and, by extension, that of the reserve currency status of the U.S. dollar,' said Thierry Wizman, global FX and rates strategist at Macquarie Group. Adding to the Fed cut bets has been a raft of weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data, with attention now shifting to Friday's release of the core PCE price index, the U.S. central bank's preferred measure of inflation. U.S. Treasury yields were steady in Asia after falling the previous session, with the two-year yield at 3.7418% and the benchmark 10-year yield last at 4.2573%. In commodities, oil prices were set for a weekly decline with the Iran-Israel ceasefire holding and easing concerns over Middle East supply risks. Brent crude futures were up 0.58% at $68.12 a barrel while U.S. crude rose 0.6% to $65.63 per barrel on Friday, but both were headed for a fall of more than 10% for the week. Spot gold fell 1% to $3,294.50 an ounce.
