European stocks are faring better in the early stages today with gains across the board as investors find some relief with US futures continuing to claw back earlier losses. Here’s how things are shaping up after the opening hour:
- Eurostoxx +0.8%
- Germany DAX +0.5%
- France CAC 40 +0.5%
- UK FTSE +0.4%
- Spain IBEX +1.7%
- Italy FTSE MIB +1.3%
Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures are currently up by 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. That’s quite the turnaround for the latter, considering that Nasdaq futures were down by more than 2% at one point earlier in the day.
The initial market reaction to the US midterm election results was a rather ugly one, with the Democratic sweep raising concerns over tighter AI regulation and potential restrictions on data centre expansion. That’s putting investors in a rather tricky spot, especially given how much the AI spending boom has contributed to the market rally this year.
For now, I would say the bounce is certainly encouraging. But with uncertainty still hanging over the outlook for AI infrastructure spending, there’s a difference between markets finding some breathing room and investors being ready to pile back into risk assets.
If anything else, the recovery in US futures is at least helping broader risk sentiment to shake off the earlier gloom. However, Wall Street’s performance later today will be the more important test of whether this rebound has legs.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.