Yahoo Finance European stocks fall ahead of Wall Street return from holiday
European stocks fell on Tuesday as investors awaited a return to trading on Wall Street following the US Labor Day holiday weekend.
Tuesday will be the first full day of stock market trading in the US since details of the frenzy in the options markets emerged.
The Financial Times on Friday reported that Japan’s Softbank was the “Nasdaq whale” that stoked a massive rally in technology stocks and left the market vulnerable to a disorderly equities sell-off.
After months of gains, the Nasdaq last week had its worst weekly performance since March.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index (^STOXX) fell by around 1%, while London’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE) declined by around 0.5%.
Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) was 0.6% in the red, while France’s CAC 40 (^FCHI) was down by around 1.1%.
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“European bourses traded a little lower on Tuesday morning after a strong bump up on Monday. US futures are a little bit positive, but the Nasdaq was weaker, pointing to ongoing concerns in the tech sector,” said Neil Wilson, the chief markets analyst at Markets.com.
“We need to see whether yesterday’s European rally was something of a free pass thanks to the US holiday and whether there is another tech volatility bleed into the broader market.”
Airline stocks across the continent are under pressure following Monday’s changes to the UK’s travel corridors list.
Travellers from seven Greek islands, including Crete, Mykonos, and Santorini, will now have to quarantine upon entering the UK.
Stocks rose in Asia, even after Donal Trump raised the prospect of “decoupling” the US economy from China.
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Shanghai’s SSE Composite Index (^SSEC) rose by more than 0.7%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (^HSI) closed almost 0.2% in the green in Hong Kong.
Japan’s Nikkei (^N225) rose by 0.8%. The KOSPI Composite Index (^KOSPI) in South Korea climbed by around 0.7%, while Australia’s ASX 200 (^AXJO) rose by more than 1%.
Threatening to punish US firms that create jobs overseas, Trump said he was going to end “our reliance on China, because we can’t rely on China.”
Futures are pointing to a mixed open in the US.
Futures on the S&P 500 (ES=F) fell by around 0.3%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) were flat.
Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq (NQ=F), meanwhile, fell by 1.5%.
