Global stocks ended mixed during last week. At Wall Street all three major indexes ended up for the week. Nasdaq closed up 1,94% for the week, Dow Jones 0,30% and S&P 500 1,76%.
In Europe, London closed up 1,05% for the week, Frankfurt Dax down 0,75 % for the week and Paris CAC 40 down 1,02% for the week.
In Asia, stocks closed up with 3,64% in Japan according to Topix and in Hong Kong down 0,04% according to Hang Seng index.
During last week, the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that there could be a new interest rates hike in their May meeting. He stated that inflation has remained too high.
Tesla opened its first European production site, Gigafactory in Berlin- Brandenburg. According to the CEO Elon Musk it was a remarkable day for the energy transition and future for the company in the European continent. The first Tesla Model Y electric cars were delivered to customers.
In the UK, the February inflation reached 30 years high and was 6,2%. Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented the Spring Statement, which included tax reliefs in personal income taxes and cut in fuel duty. The statement aims also to boost the company innovations in R&D.
The Ukraine crisis continued and the western allies increased their sanctions against Russia. The world leaders continued the global engagement in order to avoid the crisis escalation and establish peace negotiations. Military, humanitarisn and medical aid have been transported to Ukraine. Over 3 million people have fleed Ukraine after the invasion according to the UN.
The commodity prices are still high and there are signs that global food supply may be distrupted while Ukraine and Russia have informed their export limits for the commodities. The western allies increased their efforts to limit the Russian oil and gas deliveries.
During last week the US and the EU agreed to co-operate in energy transition and the US will deliver 15 bcm of LNG to the EU this year. This is part of the green transition and a way to reduce the import of Russian oil and gas to Europe. The Russian Central Bank’s gold reserves were also banned from transactions.
Brent crude oil has come down from the over 130 dollars peak, but it is now trading around 119 dollars per barrel.
For the global economies this crisis has increased the recession possibility. The global growth was first disrupted by the corona pandemic and now this Ukraine war.
During last week a new wave of corona has impacted the Chinese markets and Hong Kong. Also other Asian markets have reported increased cases. Globally there are over 6 million deaths in Covid.
Hong Kong’s leaders Carrie Lam said today on Sunday in the press conference that the city has seen stabilization in the coronacases. She urged still citizens to get vaccinated while it is the only way out of the pandemic as it helps to reduce the infections. The live press conference was delivered by the South China Morning Post.
According to EarthRate ESG Covid weekly report during last month the new Covid-cases have been over 10,9 million in five European countries together (UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain). Source: EarthRate and Johns Hopkins University).
On Friday major tech and pharma companies closed mixed at WallStreet:
Moderna 165 dollars, down 7,66%, Biontech 161 dollars, down 5,46%, Meta 221 dollars, up 1,02%, Alphabet 2833 dollars, up 0,07%, Apple 174 dollars, up 0,37%, Microsoft 303 dollars, down 0,14%, Tesla 1010 dollars, down 0,32%, Uber 34 dollars, down 1,84%, Lyft 37 dollars, down 3,77% and Pfizer 52 dollars, up 0,36%.
The European luxury sector increased and Burberry closed up 0,72% to 1667 pounds in London, Kering increased 0,89% to 582 euros in Paris and LVMH increased 0,92 % to 628 euros in Paris.
The UK fashion group Ted Baker is in the investors focus as the Synacore Partner Management confirmed on Sunday that they have made a bid of 250 million pounds for the company.
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