Following a nervous close to 2024, global stocks struggled to gain impetus on Thursday, and the dollar declined as investor sentiment wavered in anticipation of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
A more hawkish perspective from the Federal Reserve and uncertainty surrounding the plans of incoming US President Trump was likely to dominate market discourse for the foreseeable future, making the start of the New Year less favourable for European and Asian stocks. In December, global shares, which had ended 2024 with a robust annual gain of about 16 per cent, recorded a monthly loss of over 2 per cent and fell by 0.1 per cent before the opening of Wall Street. European equities fell during their first trading session of 2025, but by lunchtime, the STOXX 600 index had finally recovered from previous dips and stabilized.
However, since S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures increased by about 1%, US stock futures indicated a positive outlook. The CAC 40 in France saw a remarkable underperformance, sinking about 0.7%, while other major bourses lingered around the unchanged line.
Higher crude futures helped boost European oil and gas stocks, while Gazprom, a Russian gas company, stopped exporting gas through pipelines through Ukraine after Kyiv declined to extend a transit deal. Luxury items and cars performed poorly. An index that tracks the banks in the area dropped by up to 2.35 percent.
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