Wall Street Sinks But Global Stock Marts End Higher

Global stock markets gained Wednesday, May 25, 2022, after Wall Street sank on weak US housing sales and a profit warning by a prominent social media brand, Joe McDonald reported for Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.5% to 7,519.16 and Frankfurt’s DAX added 0.4% to 13,972.15.

London, Frankfurt, Shanghai, and Hong Kong advanced. Oil prices rose more than $1 per barrel to stay above $110. Wall Street futures were mixed. On Tuesday, the benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.8%.

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.5% to 7,519.16 and Frankfurt’s DAX added 0.4% to 13,972.15. The CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.2% to 6,268.63.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 future was less than 0.1% higher. That for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost less than 0.1%. Investors are on edge about the impact of interest rate hikes in the United States and other Western economies to cool surging inflation, as well as Russia’s war on Ukraine and a Chinese economic slowdown.

On Tuesday, the Dow gained 0.2% while the Nasdaq composite, dominated by tech stocks, slid 2.3% after the warning by Snapchat’s parent. Investors dumped social media stocks.

Snap plummeted 43.1%, its biggest single-day drop ever. Facebook parent Meta slumped 7.6%. Google’s parent fell 5.1%. The S&P is down 18% from its Jan. 3 high, putting it on the brink of a bear market, or a 20% decline from the previous top.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.2% to 3,107.46 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 0.3% to 26,677.80.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.3% to 20,171.27. The Kospi in Seoul rose 0.4% to 2,617.22 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 added 0.4% to 7,155.20. India’s Sensex gave up 0.2% to 53,926.64. New Zealand, Singapore, and Jakarta declined while Bangkok advanced.

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