NEW YORK/LONDON :Global shares edged lower on Wednesday as markets weighed geopolitical tensions between Russia and the West and as investors eyed upcoming earnings from artificial intelligence powerhouse Nvidia, while bitcoin hit a new record high and the dollar rose.
Safe-haven assets such as gold and government bonds got a lift on Tuesday after news of Ukraine launching U.S.-made ATACMS missiles into Russia, and with Russia announcing it had lowered the threshold for nuclear action. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, however, later downplayed the nuclear threat, helping to calm markets.
Investors are also watching President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, which may come as soon as Wednesday.
The MSCI All-World index was down 0.67 per cent to 843.52, with European shares also dropping 0.1 per cent.
On Wall Street, all three main indexes were trading lower, driven by consumer discretionary, technology and communication services stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.26 per cent to 43,155.46, the S&P 500 fell 0.75 per cent to 5,872.66 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.11 per cent to 18,775.83.
Shares of Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, were down 2.2 per cent ahead of its third-quarter results due after the bell. The options market implies a move of almost 9 per cent in either direction in the $3.6 trillion stock.
Markets were realizing that some of Trump policies, including tariffs and deportations, could be inflationary, said Lukasz Tomicki, founding partner at LRT Capital in Austin, Texas.
“There’s been this belief that Trump’s policies will be inflationary and we’ve seen the spike in yields since his election,” Tomicki said.
The dollar index rose 0.6 per cent to 106.74, pulling above one-week lows. It has gained nearly 3 per cent since the Nov. 5 U.S. general election. The dollar was last up 0.4 per cent against the yen at 155.28. Against the Swiss franc, the dollar was up 0.3 per cent at 0.88495.
The Chinese yuan weakened against the greenback after the central bank held benchmark lending rates steady, as widely expected, allowing Chinese mainland stocks to rally 0.2 per cent, as did Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index. In the offshore market, the yuan was down 0.2 per cent against the dollar at 7.252.
Bitcoin, which hit an overnight record high above $94,000, was up 2.7 per cent at $94,725. The price has risen by well over 30 per cent since Trump’s election, buoyed by expectations that he will create a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment.
Oil prices rose, extending overnight gains. Brent crude was up 0.04 per cent at $73.34 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures were up 0.37 per cent at $69.65. Safe-haven gold rose 0.53 per cent to $2,645 an ounce.
“The reality is that market forces are likely to temper some of the policy ambition,” Guy Miller, chief market strategist at Zurich Insurance Group, said.
“A key reason Trump was elected was because people were unhappy with inflation. And so Trump will be aware of that and that’s why the markets think there will be a moderation in his policies. He doesn’t want inflation to pick up.”
