European stocks are opening mostly lower today as the risk-off mood continues to reverberate across global markets. The renewed selloff in tech shares is not helping, after Amazon’s earnings added another layer of anxiety surrounding AI spending. Here are the opening changes:
- Eurostoxx -0.8%
- Germany DAX -0.3%
- France CAC 40 flat
- UK FTSE +0.3%
- Spain IBEX -1.0%
- Italy FTSE MIB -1.2%
Italian and Spanish stocks are leading the declines, with the latter continuing its miserable run this week and threatening fresh three-month lows again. The struggle in Spain largely comes amid the fallout from Brazil’s election shock, particularly among banking stocks and other companies with significant exposure to the country – namely Santander, Telefonica, and Mapfre.
As for the broader market mood, the more worrying development is that the tech selloff is showing little signs of letting up.
After Alphabet earlier in the week, Amazon is the latest big name to disappoint investors this week. The company saw earnings miss while hefty AI spending commitments only served to reignite concerns about whether all those billions that are being poured into AI will eventually deliver the returns investors are hoping for.
The anxiety and nervousness is also reflected in US futures today, with S&P 500 futures down 1.0% and Nasdaq futures down 2.1% currently. And so that leaves European investors with a rather uncomfortable backdrop heading into the final trading day of October.
There will be some economic data to digest in Europe, with GDP and inflation numbers on the agenda. So, just keep an eye out for that as those readings could add another wrinkle to the outlook for ECB policy heading into December.
Howeer, the big question for broader markets now is whether Wall Street can find some stability later today. With AI spending fears haunting markets ahead of Halloween, it might take more than a few reassuring earnings headlines to restore confidence.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.