Global Stock Markets Soar

Falling oil prices had little effect on European equities as the FTSE ended at a 2016 high regaining all of its Brexit losses. At one point, the FTSE 100 touched its highest level since August last year, reaching 6,757.96, but closed slightly off that, 26 points higher at 6,750.43.

Shares in housebuilder Taylor Wimpey rose 6% to 153.84p after it said it had not been affected by last month’s Brexit vote. Sentiment in the market was helped by the release of stronger-than-expected UK growth figures.
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The UK economy grew by 0.6% in the second quarter of the year, according to official figures, faster than the rate of 0.4% in the previous quarter. However, the data suggested growth was much stronger in April before easing off in May and June.

The FTSE 250 finished 1.2% higher and briefly traded above its close on June 23, the day of the Brexit vote. The midcap index — made up of companies with more U.K. revenue than FTSE 100 firms — has bounced back after getting slammed right after the referendum.

European stocks finish higher Wednesday, with surges in shares of French firms LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Peugeot SA helping to offset a drop in Deutsche Bank AG shares.

Wall Street opened higher supported by Apple Inc.’s stronger-than-expected earnings ahead of a Federal Reserve statement. Investors largely shrugged off a report on durable-goods orders, which logged their biggest drop in almost two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 57 points, or 0.3%, to 18,530, the S&P 500 index gained 5 points, or 0.2% at 2,174, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 32 points, or 0.6%, to 5,142. Among individual companies, Apple shares gained 7.4%, while Coca-Cola Co. slid 2.2%, after it posted weaker-than-expected quarterly sales. Twitter Inc. plunged 11.2% after the social media company’s disappointing earnings report late Tuesday.

The Federal Reserve’s rate-setting panel voted thumbs-down to an interest rate hike today, kicking the can down the road to at least September.

With inflation under control and unemployment at 4.9%, but the effects of the British exit from the European Union, or Brexit, still in question and the presidential campaign about to heat up, the Federal Open Market Committee left rates in a range between 0.25% and 0.5%.

“On the heels of the Brexit and with the presidential election coming, it makes sense for the Fed to wait,” says Chuck Fulkerson, director of education at Online Trading Academy.

CNC reported that Apple’s forecast-beating earnings Tuesday left some analysts worried it’s selling too many of its lower cost iPhone SE model and needs to diversify its current portfolio of smartphones.

“Margins went down, they sold a lot more iPhones SE than they had expected to, and Apple needs to be very careful of that,” Moor Insights & Strategy’s Patrick Moorhead told CNBC Wednesday.

The technology giant reported earnings of $1.42 per share on revenues of $42.4 billion. Despite beating estimates, that was down against the comparable year-ago figure of $1.85 per share on $49.61 billion in revenue. It shipped 40.4 million iPhones in the third fiscal quarter, also above estimates.

The Nikkei ended 1.7% higher in Tokyo on a report that planned Japanese economic stimulus will be more than double the amount expected by the market, though the talk fails to lift markets in the rest of Asia. A report citing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as saying that the planned economic stimulus will be more than double the amount expected by the market, as well as plans by the Bank of Japan to issue 50-year bonds for the first time, lifted broad buying interest in local equities.

However, Nikkei dropped 1.13% in morning session trading at 16395.

Japan is considering issuing 50-year bonds for the first time, the longest maturity of Japanese government debt in the postwar era, to take advantage of the ultralow rates resulting from the Bank of Japan’s monetary easing, people familiar with the matter said.