LONDON: US and European stock markets mostly retreated on Friday, dragged down by disappointing earnings from Apple and Amazon, with additional pressure coming from news of rising eurozone inflation. The US tech titans announced billions of dollars in quarterly profits on Thursday, but supply chain bottlenecks, rising prices and the global chip shortage dented performance.
Ahead of the Apple and Amazon results, US stocks had closed higher on Thursday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq striking a new all-time high. But they fell back at the open of trading on Friday, although the Dow later moved back into positive territory.
"Disappointing results from the tech giants after hours offset positive momentum from Wall Street's record close," noted Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor. Asian stock markets closed mixed on Friday.
The dollar climbed against its main rivals, gaining 1 percent against the euro as speculation mounts the Federal Reserve will begin next week to tighten monetary policy and US government bond yields rise. Forecast-beating profits from some of the world's biggest companies have helped fan a rally across global equities this month, helping to temper concerns about surging inflation and the end of the era of central bank largesse.
But the results from Apple and Amazon, coupled with eurozone inflation data on Friday, soured sentiment heading into the weekend break. Data out Friday showed overall the eurozone economy was so far maintaining its steady recovery from Covid-19 restrictions, growing at 2.2 percent in the third quarter of the year.
But inflation in the single-currency bloc surged to a record rate this month as high energy prices jumped and supply woes bit, Eurostat said on Friday, casting a cloud over the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Year-on-year inflation hit 4.1 percent in October, more than double the European Central Bank's (ECB) target and tying the record rate last seen in July 2008, as energy prices jumped almost a quarter, the agency said.
"Today's surprise jump in EU October CPI to 4.1 percent is another reminder of the risks of the ECB's current ultra-loose monetary policy and if anything adds to the pressure on a central bank that appears to be in denial as markets price in ever increasing inflation risks," said analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.
The ECB held fast Thursday that the medium-term inflation outlook is still below its 2.0 percent target and therefore a rate hike is still off the table. Rising inflation expectations are helping push up yields on government bonds in Europe.
A growing number of countries have hiked interest rates to battle inflation. All eyes next week will be on the Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to announce plans on tapering its vast stimulus package ahead of hiking rates next year. The Bank of England is meanwhile set to raise its main interest rate from a record-low 0.1 percent at its meeting also next week.
In Asia, Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets were handed some support by a report that property group China Evergrande had made an overdue interest payment ahead of a Friday deadline, buying it a little more breathing space as it struggles to address a debt crisis that many fear could spill over into the wider economy.
Key figures
New York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.3 percent
FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent
Frankfurt: DOWN less than 0.1 percent
Paris: UP 0.4 percent
Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent
Hong Kong: DOWN 0.7 percent
Shanghai: UP 0.8 percent
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1563
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3686
Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.44 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 114.07
Brent North Sea crude: FLAT at $84.33
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent.
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