Stocks advance on AI earnings as French bond yield tops 5%
The Nasdaq gained 1.05%, while Carrefour shares fell about 13% after the French retailer lowered its guidance because of protests.
Yen gains as oil and AI concerns weigh on markets
The dollar advanced against the euro as concerns over France’s finances intensified, with the French-German bond yield gap reaching its widest since 2011.
Japan’s yen rose 0.51% to 157.33 per dollar on October 22, heading toward its biggest one-day advance in almost a month. Investors sought safer assets as stocks struggled amid higher oil prices and uncertainty about returns on artificial intelligence investments.
The dollar also strengthened against the euro, which dropped 0.3% to $1.1198. An index tracking the U.S. currency against a basket of peers gained 0.14% to 101.82. The Swiss franc barely moved, trading at 0.824 per dollar.
Chris Scicluna, head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets, said concerns about AI, oil and France were contributing to investors’ aversion to risk. Brent reached its highest price since May as additional Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia heightened fears of a broader Middle East conflict and interruptions to regional oil supplies.
Anxiety over French public finances and unrest weighed on the euro. France’s 10-year borrowing yield exceeded Germany’s by 177.7 basis points, a gap not seen since 2011. Erik Nelson, global head of FX strategy at Wells Fargo, said investors were weighing French sovereign-credit concerns against worries about U.S. AI-related credit.
Elsewhere, the British pound declined 0.18% to $1.337, while the Australian dollar lost 0.21% to $0.7012. Bitcoin dropped 3.20% to $81,929.