Rebound in Gobal Markets after Upbeat Earnings Reports

Markets rebounded on Wednesday after a slew of upbeat earnings reports from companies, and geopolitical tensions faded after Nancy Pelosi, US House of Representatives Speaker concluded her official Taiwan visit. “Pelosi left Taiwan on Wednesday after pledging solidarity and hailing its democracy, leaving a trail of Chinese anger over her brief visit to the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own. China demonstrated its outrage over the highest-level US visit to the island in 25 years with a burst of military activity in surrounding waters, summoning the US ambassador in Beijing and halting several agricultural imports from Taiwan,” reported Reuters. Upbeat earnings reports from among others, Paypal (NASDAQ:PYPL), SoFi (NASDAQ:SOFI), and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) helped Wall Street’s three indices to trade above 1% at 18h00 local time. “On top of that, better-than-expected economic data, including a rebound in the ISM non-manufacturing purchasing managers index, eased concerns about an imminent recession,” stated Trading Economics.

European markets were also boosted by better-than-expected corporate results with investors ignoring US-Sino tensions that surfaced a day earlier. The FTSE 100, DAX and CAC40 all closed in the green after companies like Societe Generale (EPA:SOGN), Commerzbank (ETR:CBKG), AXA (BIT:AXA), and Siemens reported better-than-anticipated results. The local bourse closed up by almost 1% supported by the industrial and financial sectors.

Gains in tech and material sectors boosted the Hang Seng on Wednesday, while upbeat financial results from technology counters boosted the Nikkei. In contrast, China’s Shanghai closed down by 0.71% “with mainland stocks remaining highly volatile as traders continue to monitor tensions between China and the US over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying tweeted that Pelosi’s visit was a “major political provocation,” while the People’s Liberation Army will reportedly conduct military exercises in areas around Taiwan from August 4 to 7. The risk of escalation in the Taiwan Strait once Pelosi leaves the region is expected to keep markets on edge,” stated Trading Economics.

In commodities, the price of Brent crude fell trading at $98.25 a barrel at 18h00 “after OPEC+ agreed to raise September output by 100 000 barrels daily.” The risk-on sentiment dented the appeal of gold which traded lower at $1 758.28 an ounce at the same time.




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