Squawk Box Europe Express

All three major indices keep Wall Street firmly in the green ahead of the final trading day of the year. The Dow pushes higher and the S&P 500 is close to a fresh record high while A.I.-related stocks help to drive the Nasdaq 100 to its best run not seen since 1999. Europe follows suit with double-digit gains. The U.S. state of Maine joins Colorado in barring former President Donald Trump from...

Wall Street is on course to post an eight-week winning street with the Dow hitting a new closing high and the S&P 500 not far off its own record peak. The NYT sues Microsoft and OpenAI in a billion-dollar suit over copyright infringement. Apple wins a major legal victory after a U.S. appeals court rules to pause a government import ban on two of its watches. The tech giant had been in an intel...

The Wall Street Santa rally extends its eight-week winning streak with bets on a March Fed rate cut boosting stocks. In China, November industrial profits are up by almost 30 per cent for November thanks to a variety of government stimulus measures. However, the numbers are still behind 2022 for the year at this point. In Hong Kong, gaming stocks lead the way as Beijing regulators confirmed they w...

The U.S. Santa rally is back on but European indices fail to follow suit with UK GDP receiving a downward revision signalling a potential recession next year. Sportswear giants in Europe see declines in early trade following Nike’s revenue forecast cut. The brand has unveiled a $2bn cost-cutting initiative which has knocked 10 per cent from its U.S. share price. Chinese authorities issue new spend...

The Wall Street Santa rally hits a wall with the Dow and the Nasdaq breaking a nine-day winning streak. The S&P 500 records its worst session since September. In media news, CNBC sources claim Warner Bros./Discovery and Paramount have launched merger talks in what could be a landmark mega-deal to gain market share in the streaming industry. Toyota sees shares nose-dive following a major U.S. r...

The Santa Rally accelerates with the S&P 500 nearing a new record high and Dow soaring more than 200 points in what was its ninth consecutive session in the green. The U.S. and its allies consider airstrikes against Houthi forces as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect merchant vessels in the Red Sea. Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc tells our colleagues Stateside the security of his crews...

In Asia, equities are in the green with the Nikkei leading the way at the close but the Japanese yen dips as the BoJ is to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy with no hint of when it will end its negative rate strategy. The Dow and the Nasdaq close narrowly up for the eighth straight session following more dovish predictions about 2024 rate cuts. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee says he...

It’s a seventh consecutive week in the green for Wall Street as rate cut optimism continues to grow. However, New York Fed President John Williams tells CNBC that markets should not be too hasty. Shipping titans MSC, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd say they will stop travelling through the Suez Canal following a spate of attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea. Germany, France and the UK have called for a ce...

We are live in Brussels where EU leaders have failed to agree on renewed aid to Ukraine following stiff opposition from Hungary. However, the bloc has confirmed accession talks with Kyiv are to go ahead. Wall Street and European indices remain in the green but lose some momentum following this week’s Fed rate decision. Asian markets, however, push higher led by the Hang Seng. In China, manufacturi...

The U.S. Federal Reserve indicates that it will cut interest rates by 75bps next year, triggering a Wall Street rally where the Dow closed above the 37,000-point mark for the first time ever. Resultantly, the 10-year Treasury yield sinks below 4 per cent for the first time in 4 months. Doubleline Capital CEO Jeffery Gundlach tells our colleagues Stateside to brace for market volatility next year....

Cop28 negotiators publish a new draft communique which omits any mention of phasing out fossil fuel but have tightened some of the text regarding use of hydrocarbons. The S&P 500 hits its highest level in nearly 2 years. U.S. headline inflation decelerates which has raised investors’ hopes the Fed will pause rate cuts today. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy is in Washington D.C. setting...

A global Cop28 agreement is on the brink of failure after the draft text removes a call to phase out fossil fuels. Wall Street records a third consecutive day in the green with the S&P 500 shrugging off declines from all of the ‘Magnificent 7’ tech stocks. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy is in Washington for talks with U.S. President Joe Biden and Congressional lawmakers to push for fr...

Wall Street posts its sixth week of gains as the economy grows by a further 200k jobs in November. The Fed is due to hold its last meeting of the year later this week. Chinese consumer prices fall at their fastest pace in three years in November while producer prices fall for the fourteenth consecutive month. EU finance ministers are set to hold an extraordinary meeting before Christmas after fail...

A.I. stocks help the Dow and S&P 500 out of a three-day rut with positive announcements from Amazon and AMD helping Wall Street back into the green ahead of today’s non-farm payroll data. The yen hits a four-month high versus the dollar but the Nikkei is down on comments from the BoJ governor Kazuo Ueda who signalled that the central bank may start to unwind its ultra-loose monetary policy. In...

Chinese exports grow, snapping a six-month losing streak but jitters over the world’s second-largest economy persist, which pushes U.S. crude prices to below the $70 mark. In the U.S., private sector payrolls data is weaker than expected sending Wall Street into the red once more. However, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy tells our colleagues Stateside that consumer sentiment remains robust. Major bank CEOs...

Asian markets are in the green with Japan’s Nikkei leading the charge on strong chip stock performance. Bitcoin reaches $44,000 for the first time since April 2022 on hopes of a potential ETF. U.S. employment positions fall to a low not seen for two and a half years as rate hikes loosen the historically tight labour market Stateside. We hear from BofA CEO Brian Moynihan who says he is confident th...

Wall Street ends in the red with the Dow snapping a four-day winning streak as tech stocks falter. Services activity in China accelerates at its fastest pace in three months according to a private survey. This runs counter to government data which shows the sector in contraction for the first time this year. In Dubai, COP28 negotiators are reportedly considering a phase-out of fossil fuels. In ban...

UN Secretary-General slams COP28’s Net Zero charter but ExxonMobil CEO tells CNBC exclusively that technology will be key to eventually reducing global emissions. We also hear from U.S. climate envoy John Kerry who rails against COP28 President Sultan Al-Jaber’s claims that there is ‘no science’ for phasing out fossil fuels. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s dovish comments on rate hik...

U.S. equities record their best month of November in decades to power a global stock market rally. Investors are now betting that the Federal Reserve is finally gaining the upper hand against inflation. Opec + nations move to cut supplies further in a bid to shore up the market but prices remain largely unaffected. In Asia, stocks slide following mixed economic data. However, Chinese manufacturing...

We are live in Dubai where Egypt hands over the UN’s Cop28 conference keys to the UAE. This comes amid criticism over the new host country’s climate agenda. U.S. futures are in the green with all three major indices on track to post their best monthly performances in a year. In Hong Kong, stocks dip into a five-week low following Chinese manufacturing data falls deeper into contraction. And speaki...

Asian equities are in the red following dovish commentary from the Fed which signalled a potential pivot in policy. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman believes a rate cut could come as soon as Q1 next year and warned of a hard landing should rates remain high. We are live at the NATO meeting in Brussels where Finland has closed all borders with Russia, accusing Moscow of deliberately pushing mi...

More hostages and prisoners are released as Israel and Hamas agree to extend the truce by a further two days. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to the region - his third visit since the war began. NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels looking to shore up support for Ukraine. We hear from NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg who says he is confident Sweden’s access into t...

Chinese industrial profits gain for a third straight month, but slow sharply in October as policymakers try to fight off softening global demand. Asian equities reverse early gains as China property stocks plunge amid a shadow banking probe, while US futures point lower after a stellar four-week run. And the Israel-Hamas cease-fire holds into a fourth day, with dozens of hostages freed as negotiat...

Asian equities are mixed on the back of accelerating inflation in Japan for the first time in four months. A four-day truce between Israel and Hamas takes effect. The first set of hostages are due for release at 1500 CET. In Germany, the ruling coalition has eased its foot off the debt brake to unveil a special budget following last week’s constitution court ruling which left Berlin’s spending pla...

Populist Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) is set to gain the most seats in the Dutch general election, but the anti-EU politician faces an uncertain coalition path to govern. OPEC+ members delay a key policy-setting meeting by 4 days due to an alleged disagreement over productions levels, sending crude prices lower. The Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel says that interest rates may have peaked...