Stock exchange transaction

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) began to restore trading on Friday after a technical issue disrupted operations on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq.

The shutdown was triggered by a cooling system failure at a data centre in the Chicago area, according to the facility’s operator, CyrusOne.

Engineering teams have since restarted several chillers and installed temporary cooling equipment to stabilise conditions, a spokesperson told Bloomberg.

According to CME Group’s indications, trading in US equity futures should be restarting soon after a glitch knocked it out for several hours.

The CME, one of the world’s largest derivatives exchanges, hosts near-continuous trading in millions of contracts tied to the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq 100. Friday’s interruption left traders grappling with uncertainty as they awaited the restoration of the platforms that underpin much of global futures activity.

The outage halted trading of US Treasury futures, while European and UK bond markets that trade on a different exchange were reported unaffected.

Futures in individual stocks were not affected, either. Coinbase Global rose 2.6% in pre-market trading as Bitcoin stayed above $91,000.

Wall Street is operating on an abbreviated schedule on Friday after being closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Stock trading will close at 1pm Eastern Time (7pm CET).

In European trading, Germany’s DAX rose 0.20% after the release of fresh inflation data.

Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.23% on gains in energy and mining stocks. The CAC 40 in France rose 0.19%.

In other dealings, Brent crude, the international standard for pricing, rose 0.13% to $62.62 per barrel.

European markets opened significantly lower on Friday, following a retreat in Asian shares in the morning and Wall Street’s tumble on Thursday, as investors reassessed the outlook for interest-rate cuts and questioned the lofty valuations of leading US technology and AI stocks.

“Markets are down across the board as investors fret about cracks in the narrative that’s driven the mother of all tech rallies over the past few years,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell. The key concern is “about rich equity valuations and how billions of dollars are being spent on AI just at a time when the jobs market is looking fragile”, he added.

In Europe, sentiment was gloomy on Friday morning as UK government bond yields jumped following reports that Chancellor Rachel Reeves has abandoned plans to raise income tax rates in this month’s Autumn Budget. The ten-year gilt yield climbed above 4.54% before easing slightly. If confirmed, the chancellor’s move — first reported by the Financial Times — would leave a shortfall in the public finances.

London equities weakened, with bank shares among the worst performers on the FTSE 100 as investors digested the prospect of a tighter fiscal backdrop.

By around 11:00 CET, the FTSE 100 was down more than 1.1%, the European benchmark Stoxx 600 had lost nearly 1%, the DAX in Frankfurt dipped more than 0.7% and the CAC 40 in Paris fell nearly 0.7%. The Madrid and Milan indexes were down 1.2% and 1% respectively.

“Despite the doom and gloom, the scale of the market pullback wasn’t severe enough to suggest widespread panic,” said Coatsworth, adding that “a 1% decline in the FTSE 100 is not out of the ordinary for a one-day movement when markets are feeling grumpy”.

On the corporate front, luxury group Richemont was among the best performers, soaring 7.5% after beating forecast first-half results. Siemens Energy jumped more than 10% after the company raised its targets for the 2028 financial year. In other news, French Ubisoft delayed its financial report for the past six months; trading in its shares was suspended after an earlier drop of more than 8%.

Across the Atlantic, Wall Street endured one of its weakest sessions since April on Thursday, with the S&P 500 sliding 1.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 1.7% from its record high set a day earlier. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 2.3%.

Shares in major AI-linked companies came under heavy selling pressure, with Nvidia down 3.6%, Super Micro Computer off 7.4%, Palantir falling 6.5% and Broadcom losing 4.3%. Oracles lost more than 4%.

The sector’s extraordinary gains this year have prompted comparisons with the dot-com boom, fuelling doubts about how much further prices can rise.

Expectations for a further US interest-rate cut in December have also diminished, with market pricing now suggesting only a marginal chance the Federal Reserve will move again this year.

Asian markets mirrored the downbeat tone as fresh data showed China’s factory output grew at its slowest pace in 14 months in October, rising 4.9% year on year — down from 6.5% in September and missing expectations. Fixed-asset investment also weakened, dragged down by ongoing softness in the property sector.

South Korea’s Kospi led regional losses, tumbling 3.8% amid heavy selling of technology shares. Samsung Electronics dropped 5.5% and SK Hynix slid 8.5%, while LG Energy Solution lost 4.4%. Taiwan’s Taiex declined 1.8%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed nearly 1.8%, reversing Thursday’s gains, with SoftBank Group plunging 6.6%. In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2% and the Shanghai Composite slipped 1%.

Meanwhile, oil prices strengthened. Brent crude rose nearly 1.6% to $63.99 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate added 1.8% to $59.76. The dollar was slightly firmer at ¥154.55, while the euro traded at $1.1637.

European shares extended their rally to fresh record highs on Wednesday, buoyed by optimism over a potential resolution to the prolonged US government shutdown and a steady stream of upbeat corporate news.

The region-wide STOXX 600 index rose 0.5% in early trading to an all-time high of 583.4, with major bourses in positive territory.

Investor sentiment was lifted after the US Senate approved a temporary funding bill to end the record 43-day shutdown, with markets betting that the measure will secure full passage in the coming days. There were broad-based gains led by healthcare and luxury stocks, after a positive brokerage note on Novo Nordisk and speculation of a Chinese expansion by Louis Vuitton boosted sentiment across the region.

The euro remains under slight pressure, trading around $1.157 per € at 11.30 CET after a modest retreat. This comes as the US dollar steadies amid improving risk sentiment and hopes that the US government shutdown will soon be resolved. On the commodity front, energy prices are drifting slightly lower as crude oil futures slipped, reflecting calmer concerns about supply disruptions.

On this side of the ocean, yields on UK government bonds, or gilts, rose sharply as investors grew uneasy over the prospect that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves could face pressure to step down following the Budget. Downing Street said Starmer would resist any leadership challenge.

London’s FTSE 100 edged higher on Wednesday, hovering near the 10,000 mark to trade at fresh record highs, as investors shrugged off volatility in global tech shares.

“UK stocks made progress despite some volatility in the AI space in the US and Asia overnight,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

Meanwhile, multinational energy company SSE saw its share price skyrocket by more than 12% after it unveiled an ambitious investment plan. It will nearly double its investment to £33bn (€37.5bn) by 2027 and will be partly financed by a £2bn equity raise with the remainder coming from debt, asset sales and existing cash flow.

Phil Ross, equity research analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said the market had begun to wonder whether SSE might raise capital to fund its strong future growth prospects, and this uncertainty had weighed on the shares in recent months.

“This morning’s announced equity raise puts those doubts to bed as part of the new CEO’s strategy, and leaves a clear pathway to profitable and reliable growth, focusing on the big opportunity in UK power networks,” Ross said, adding: “With the future runway for growth now in place, the company is in a great position to cement itself as one of the UK’s leading energy groups in the UK.”

UK-based BAE Systems reported strong performance for its financial year. The company said robust demand supported BAE’s expectations for further profit growth.

The defence giant has secured more than £27bn (€30.6bn) in orders so far this year, with additional deals expected before year-end.

The company reaffirmed its recently upgraded full-year guidance, forecasting sales growth of 8–10% and underlying operating profit growth of 9–11%. BAE plans to return about £1.5bn (€1.7bn) to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks in 2025. Shares were little changed in early trading.

One of the key developments shaping international market sentiment on Tuesday was SoftBank’s decision to sell its entire stake in Nvidia, worth $5.83 bn (€5bn). This move resulted in a 10% dive of the Japanese technology company’s share prices on Wednesday in the Asian trade, as equity markets reacted unfavourably to the surprise announcement.

“Corrections are a healthy and necessary fact of life in financial markets, but investors will be wary of any signs this is turning into a pronounced sell-off,” according to Mould, who added that attention is now turning to Nvidia’s third-quarter earnings update on 19 November.

Mould also highlighted that once the US government shutdown is resolved, investors will focus on a wave of upcoming US economic data, including third-quarter GDP.

In more corporate news, the world’s largest electronics maker, Foxconn, posted anticipation-exceeding results showing a jump in its third-quarter profit of 17% from a year earlier, fuelled by growth in its artificial intelligence server business.

The company said it was “optimistic” about the performance of AI and smart consumer electronics in the fourth quarter, which are expected to show significant growth momentum.

European benchmarks began the week with gains. Oil and gold prices increased, but the euro weakened against the dollar. Sentiment was influenced by OPEC+’s decision to pause production hikes in the first quarter of next year, which led to a modest rise in oil prices as fears of oversupply eased. Gains were, however, mostly lost by late morning.

The international benchmark, Brent crude futures, traded at $64.76, while US West Texas Intermediate cost $60.92 a barrel.

Alongside pauses in the new year, OPEC+ countries agreed on Sunday to increase output by a small 137,000 barrels per day in December, maintaining the pace set for October and November.

Meanwhile, investors expect fresh Western sanctions on Russia, targeting Rosneft and Lukoil, to hinder the country’s ability to boost production further.

At the same time, major Western oil companies are benefitting from the disrupted supply of Russian refined fuels due to attacks and sanctions. Refining margins have risen substantially, giving the oil majors a boost. Both BP and Shell share prices were slightly up on Monday before noon in Europe.

“The decision by producers’ cartel OPEC+ to pause further output hikes at the start of next year, amid concerns about a glut of supply, helped give oil prices a lift and, in turn, boosted UK market heavyweights BP and Shell,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

The movements also came as BP announced it had agreed to divest stakes in US shale assets to Sixth Street investment firm on Monday.

Winners in Europe

At 11:00 CET, the UK’s FTSE 100 was up by a few points. The DAX in Frankfurt was leading the gains, up 0.8% after an initial stutter. The CAC 40 in Paris started climbing, reaching gains of nearly 0.2%. The lift in France came despite national budget uncertainties and the release of negative PMI data, which showed that the country’s manufacturing sector was still contracting in October.

US futures were positive around the same time, rising between 0.1% and 0.5%.

Meanwhile, the earnings season continues. A number of European companies are reporting this week, including AstraZeneca, BP, BMW, and Commerzbank.

Ryanair opened the week by posting stronger-than-expected results for the first half of its financial year, spanning April to September. Revenues rose 13% to €9.82bn, as traffic grew 3% and fares increased by 13%. Over the same period, profit rose by 42% year-on-year to €2.54bn, driven by a strong Easter season.

The airline’s shares were up 2.90% in Dublin at around midday.

Looking ahead, Ryanair’s outspoken CEO Michael O’Leary criticised countries in Europe where airlines face high taxes, including environmental duties. In an interview with CNBC, he threatened to move capacity outside the UK should the new budget include such a levy.

“Ryanair is also one of several airline operators with an eagle eye on taxes and costs. It is no longer putting up with unfavourable tax systems, preferring to switch flights and routes to less punitive locations,” Mould commented.

In other markets, the euro weakened against the US dollar by more than 0.2%, hitting a rate of $1.1517 by 11:00 CET. At the same time, the Japanese yen and the British pound were also losing ground against the greenback, with the dollar trading at ¥154.15 and the pound costing $1.3136.

Gold traded just above $4,000, rising slightly by 0.3%.