Wall Street’s Nasdaq Composite snapped a four-day decline ahead of chipmaker Nvidia’s earnings as investors weigh up the impact of China’s DeepSeek startup and mammoth investment programmes in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.5% in afternoon trading, with Nvidia set to report after the closing bell, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was more muted, slipping 0.3%.
Investors have been wary of risk-sensitive assets this week with a spike in Wall Street’s fear gauge as US economic indicators hinted at a softening in consumer sentiment, and amid continued uncertainty about the extent of the White House’s tariff regime.
Bitcoin has been among the hardest hit, falling another 2.1% to US$86,093 amid the uncertain environment, and after the US$1.5 billion hack of the popular ByBit crypto exchange earlier this week.
US President Donald Trump pushed out the start date for potential tariffs on neighbouring Mexico and Canada to April 2, the second delay to the regime, and reaffirmed his intention to slap a levy on European Union imports. Meanwhile, the US Senate confirmed Jamieson Greer as the US Trade Representative.
“These tariff imposts are worse than assumed in the lead-up to the election, but the market still seems to be holding out hope that they will not proceed. This a dangerous assumption,” Bank of New Zealand senior markets strategist Jason Wong said in a note. “Trump’s update on tariffs caused a little ripple in the market, but it’s fair to say that the tariffs are nowhere near fully priced.”
The kiwi dollar traded at 57.04 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 57.12 cents yesterday.
Still climbing
Stock markets in Europe were stronger, with the UK’s FTSE 100 advancing 0.7%, Germany’s DAX 30 climbing 1.7% and France’s CAC 40 gaining 1.2%.
German stocks were buoyed by the prospect of business-friendly policies under the next administration likely to be led by Friedrich Merz’s conservative party, while banking and mining stocks bolstered London’s FTSE.
French food company Danone – a customer of Fonterra Cooperative Group – dipped even as it beat December quarter earnings expectations and said it expects sales growth to continue this year.
Brent crude oil futures were down 0.4% at US$72.19 a barrel after US oil inventories shrank. Meanwhile, BP unveiled plans to pivot back to boosting oil production as it slashed investment plans for clean energy.
Local data today include the ANZ’s latest survey of business sentiment, while corporate earnings season continues.
Australian futures are pointing to a 0.1% increase for the S&P/ASX 200 index, with national carrier Qantas Airways, supermarket chain Coles Group and investment manager Perpetual among those reporting.
In New Zealand, Channel Infrastructure, Heartland Group Holdings, Seeka, and AoFrio are scheduled to announce their results.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash.