S&P 500, Nasdaq end at records on mixed day for global stocks

NEW YORK - Global stocks were mixed Thursday as investors applauded some positive earnings while assessing worries over rising inflation and a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended at fresh highs after a choppy session, but the Dow declined, joining bourses in Frankfurt, Paris and elsewhere.

"I feel like we're in a bit of a wait-and-see mode at the moment," OANDA senior market analyst Craig Erlam said.

With a strong earnings season mostly complete, markets are weighing the potential "downside risks" of a slew of issues -- from high energy prices to central bank decisions on interest rates to rising Covid-19 cases in the US and Europe, Erlam said.

German leaders agreed tough new curbs on the unvaccinated, with plans to shut them out of restaurants, sporting events and cultural shows as the country battles to halt a record rise in Covid infections.

Other uncertainties for stocks include questions on whether US President Biden will reappoint Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the prospects for Biden's giant package to address climate change and shore up the US safety net.

Inflation has surged worldwide, raising concerns that central banks will raise interest rates sooner than expected to prevent economies from over-heating.

But European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said this week that the ECB did not expect to move next year, in contrast to the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve which are expected to tighten sooner.

While eurozone inflation will hit a record high in November, it is expected to decline over the course of next year, a senior ECB policymaker predicted on Wednesday.

In the United States, new data showed a very slight decline in new unemployment claims last week, an unsurprising result indicating the labor market continues to recover from last year's pandemic downturn.

US markets were lifted by outsized gains from large tech companies, including Apple and Amazon, along with chip company Nvidia, which shot up more than eight percent following strong earnings.

But Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, proved an exception among large tech companies, falling 0.6 percent on news that a group of US states are probing allegations that Instagram supplied the photo-sharing platform to children despite knowing of potential harm.

The probe is the latest ripple effect from congressional testimony of former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, who also has leaked documents about alleged malfeasance by the social media giant to lawmakers and reporters.

AFP