Asia
China’s recent winning streak came to an end today with a very modest fall in the Shanghai Composite Index. But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng managed to make gains, rising by around 1% to 28,920 points. In the context of the index’s recent high above 33,000 points, it still has some way to go before regaining these levels. Japan’s Nikkei and Topix indices were marginally higher on Tuesday’s close.
Europe
The trade relationship between the EU and the United Status has come back into focus this week as EC President Jean-Claude Juncker meets President Trump. The meeting takes the focus temporarily off the China-US spat and also has implications for the UK’s post-Brexit trade deals – International Trade Secretary Liam Fox is currently in the US scoping out the prospect of UK deals.
European bourses were mixed, with France’s CAC 40 and Italy’s FTSE MIB inching head, while Germany’s Dax and Spain’s Ibex lost some ground after yesterday’s move higher.
UK equities reflected the uncertain mood of world markets. A stronger pound in recent days, fuelled by modest signs of progress in the Conservative Party’s approach to Brexit negotiations and the expectation of a rate rise next week, slowed momentum after yesterday’s strong gains for commodity stocks. The FTSE 100 dropped back below 7,700 points to 7,664 in midmorning trading on Wednesday.
GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) first-half results are due at midday today. More than usual attention will be paid to the presentation as media speculation is rife that the pharmaceutical giant – and FTSE 100 dividend stalwart – is planning to hive off its successful consumer healthcare division.
Shares in another income stock, Vodafone (VOD), were in the doldrums on Wednesday morning after reporting sluggish growth in Italy and Spain in the most recent quarter. The stock is rated as four stars by Morningstar analysts, which means that it is undervalued – its fair value estimate is 250p, against a current share price of around 175p. The company’s shares have struggled to hold above 250p since early 2014 but now yield above 7%.
North America
The tech earnings season continues with Facebook (FB) results due after the market close today, followed by Amazon (AMZN) on Thursday.
Some big names from the Dow Jones Industrial Average due to report today include Visa (V), Boeing (BA), Coca-Cola (KO). It will be interesting to see which of the two current preoccupations, the trade war or strong corporate earnings, will win the day this week.