Squawk Box Europe Express

U.S. indices start H2 positively ahead of today’s 4th July holiday. Meanwhile the RBA’s hiking cycle pause has buoyed investor sentiment in Asia. In tech news, China imposes export controls on vital rare materials gallium and germanium which are used in semi-conductor production. The move is seen to be in retaliation against Western chip curbs on Beijing. Russian and Saudi oil cuts fail to su...

Asian markets begin H2 in the green with strong business sentiment in Japan outweighing slowing factory activity in China. U.S. equities end the first half of the year in very positive territory. The Nasdaq surges more than 30 per cent to close its best H1 in 40 years. Apple closes Friday’s session as the world’s first-ever $3tn company. In autos news, Tesla boasts of record production numbers in...

The Nasdaq is on track for its best H1 in 40 years with A.I. demand fuelling tech stocks. China’s post-Covid recovery, however, continues to stutter with factory activity contracting for a third consecutive month. EU leaders meet in Brussels and make pledges to shore up military and financial aid to Ukraine in the wake of last week’s attempted Wagner Group mutiny in Russia. In retail news, U.S. sp...

The world’s top central bankers meet at the ECB annual forum in Sintra, Portugal and stand firm on further rate hikes. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says restrictive policies have not been restrictive for long enough to rein in inflation. ECB President Christine Lagarde tells CNBC that more hikes remain a prospect and that the central bank requires more time to assess its previous mo...

ECB officials attending the central bank’s annual forum in Sintra have played down talk of rate cuts. We hear from ECB chief economist Philip Lane who says the bank must remain data-dependent when making rate decisions. U.S. housing and consumer data shows resilience but Chinese industrial further declines by double digits. On Wall Street, the Dow breaks a six-session losing streak to stay on trac...

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes his first public remarks since the abandoned coup by the PMC Wagner Group at the weekend. Chinese Premier Li Qiang addresses the ‘Summer Davos’ in Tianjin, calling form more foreign direct investment and warns against global economic fragmentation. We are live in Sintra, Portugal for the ECB’s annual summit where the Bank of Lithuania governor Gedim...

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power is severely tested over the weekend after the private military company Wagner Group marches on Moscow before performing an abrupt u-turn. Asian equities remain sanguine despite the tumult as the Wall Stret rally recedes. Oil, however, is slightly higher. We are live at the first ‘summer’ Davos in Tianjin since the Covid pandemic. And in Greece, Kyri...

Tech stocks u-turn on Wall Street but the Nasdaq is on course for its worst run since April. The Bank of England raised rates by 50bps but Governor Andrew Bailey played down fears of a looming UK recession. Siemens Energy shares fall sharply lower after it scrapped its FY outlook upon discovering further technical problems within its turbine unit Gamesa. The company warns it now faces costs of €1b...

The S&P 500 records its worst session this month while short positions on U.S. shares hit their highest level in more than a year. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell tells the House Financial Services Committee that efforts to rein in inflation are far from over. The Bank of England faces pressure do the same after a shock inflation print sends two-year gilts surging to a 15-year high...

The recent U.S. equities rally runs out of steam as investors lock in profits and mull the rates forecast before Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies in front of Congress later this week. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt rules out offering government mortgage relief as he meets with bank chiefs to discuss spiralling repayments. Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son makes bullish comments about potenti...

China slashes two more key lending benchmarks for the first time in 10 months as the PBOC attempts to stimulate a stuttering economy. In a sign of potentially easing tensions between the U.S. and China, Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with President Xi Jinping in Beijing and calls for further dialogue. In tech news, Intel signs off on a €30bn chip manufacturing factory in Germany, making i...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in China and holds “candid and constructive” talks with his counterpart Wang Yi. It’s the first visit of an American cabinet-level official for five years. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs downgrades its FY GDP forecast for China. It quoted Beijing’s limited ability to boost stimulus. Asian equities start the week in the red as a result despite scoring their...

All three major U.S. indices hit historically high averages ending the session more than 1 per cent in the green. The BoJ sticks to its guns and maintains negative rates despite inflation moving higher. The Nikkei is up in afternoon trade while the yen drops against the dollar. In Frankfurt, ECB President Christine Lagarde hikes euro zone rates to a 22-year high. Lagarde said there was no sign tha...

The Fed makes a hawkish pause but Chairman Jerome Powell warns of two more rate rises later this year in a bid to balance market expectations. The rate decision pushes the S&P 500 and Nasdaq off 13-month highs while U.S. treasuries waver. Bond king Jeffrey Gundlach tells CNBC that the Fed strategy remains flawed and delayed. The PBOC cuts a key policy rate which sees the yuan fall to a six-mon...

U.S. inflation drops to its lowest level since in 2021 with investors anticipating a pause in rate hikes from the Fed. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq respond by hitting 13-month highs and U.S. Treasuries yields also rise on investor optimism the hiking cycle may be coming to a close. In the UK, stronger-than-expected jobs data push short-term gilt yields to levels not seen since last year’s chaoti...

The S&P 500 closes at its highest level since April 2022 as investors anticipate a Fed rate hike pause later this week. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan tells our U.S. colleagues that the central bank cannot yet signal the end of the tightening cycle. In China, the PBOC cuts a key short-term policy for the first time in 10 months as its post-Covid recovery stutters and crude prices are impac...

The S&P 500 enjoys its fourth straight week in the green ahead of this week’s Fed rate decision. The FOMC is expected to pause its hikes in order to assess ten consecutive interest rate increases. UBS completes its takeover of Credit Suisse marking a new historic chapter for the banking behemoth. In oil news, WTI slides below the pivotal $70-mark as demand concerns continue to grow. Saudi Arab...

China’s post-Covid recovery stutters as factory prices nosedive at their fastest pace in seven years. Risk of deflation prompt calls for more government stimulus. The S&P 500 is up by 20 per cent since its low in October, sparking talk of a potential new bull market. Crypto exchange Binance suspends all U.S. dollar deposits in the wake of its SEC lawsuit. SEC chair Gary Gensler has slammed the...

The Bank of Canada surprises markets by hiking rates, becoming the second global central bank to take a hawkish turn ahead of next week’s Fed meeting. U.S. Treasury Secretary tells CNBC exclusively that strong American employment will not prevent inflation from being reined in back to target. Crypto exchange Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong slams the SEC for moving to ring-fence the sector, saying t...

Chinese exports disappoint in May by a wide margin as weak domestic forecasts and global consumption concerns weigh. U.S. indices rally, however, with fresh record highs for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The VIX drops to its lowest intra-day level since before February 2020. The World Bank slashes its global growth forecast for next year, citing higher rates and tight credit conditions. Deputy C...

Apple launches Vision Pro – its first mixed-reality product since it first entered the wearable category almost a decade ago. In crypto news, the SEC sues the world’s biggest exchange, Binance, as well as its CEO Changpeng Zhao for breaking security rules in the U.S. The RBA unexpectedly hikes rates by 25bps, warning that a soft landing still remains elusive for the Australian economy. ECB Preside...

Oil prices lift following Saudi Arabia’s pledge to cut supply by a further 1m bpd from July onwards. Speaking exclusively to CNBC, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the move was a precautionary measure. Friday’s Dow Jones session was the strongest since January, moving 700 points on news of a strong U.S. jobs report and President Biden signing the debt agreement into law. We also hear fro...

The U.S. Senate votes to pass the debt ceiling agreement to send it onto President Biden to ratify, avoiding what would have been the first ever U.S. default. The news pushes Asian markets into the green. The Nikkei is now on course for its eighth consecutive week of gains while tech stocks lead the way on the Hang Seng in Hong Kong. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy puts pressure on NATO to...

The debt ceiling bill is approved by House Representatives, moving it onto the Senate. Hose Speaker Kevin McCarthy has warned Democrats he intends on making more cuts in coming years. Markets lower odds of a Fed rate hike in June after two officials say they are in favour of pausing this month. We are live in Moldova where 50 European leaders are meeting to discuss the war in Ukraine with Presiden...

The bill to raise the U.S. debt ceiling clears the first hurdle in the House Rules Committee and faces a House floor vote tonight. Chinese manufacturing contracts further, reaching a five-month low while the services sector activity hits its slowest pace in four months. Asian markets slump as a result. The Nasdaq manages to cross the 13,000-point mark for the first time since August 2022, buoyed b...