Last week …
Was generally a quiet week for European markets with retail volumes continuing to be low for this time of year.
We did see some tech sector volatility with a sell off in the US leading to ASML being the most traded stock on Equiduct last week. Cloud service provider CoreWeave dropped 25% and helped cause market wide jitters as concerns about debt servicing reemerged.
US inflation numbers came in higher than expected with markets now pricing in another interest rate rise before the end of the year.
Energy companies were again popular with continued skirmishes in the Middle East and tit for tat energy infrastructure strikes between Russia and the Ukraine pushing oil prices higher. Repsol and Total Energies were once again in the top ten most traded stocks.
Madrid has seen particularly low levels of retail participation in recent weeks and as a result, Paris was the most traded market on Equiduct for the third week in a row with 32% of turnover.
Whilst most European markets were relatively quiet, the Nordics had a busy week. Stockholm turnover was up 25% on the previous week with AstraZeneca and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken the most popular stocks. Copenhagen had its busiest week of the year and October average daily volumes in Denmark are up 102% on September.
This week …
Has the potential to be a busy one. There are several different factors that could be the catalyst for market volatility this week.
The AI and Tech sectors were hit by a sell off last week as fears continue to rise about borrowing costs and whether the returns are going to be big enough to service the debt. The tech heavy Nasdaq lost over 5% last week.
There’s a good chance this sector volatility will spill into this week with the likes of IBM, Meta and Tesla all releasing quarterly results.
Q3 results could be a volatility driver across multiple sectors with a number of popular Equiduct stocks releasing updates this week. Bankinter, Iberdrola, SAP and EssilorLuxottica were all in the top twenty five most traded stocks on Equiduct in September and any unexpected results could spark increased retail activity.
The Oil price will again almost certainly be a driver of volatility this week. Brent Crude hit 110 dollars a barrel last week with Russia and Ukraine targeting energy infrastructure after a temporary ceasefire failed to hold. Any developments this week are sure to be closely watched by markets.
Politics will continue to be a potential source of volatility with more protests ands rioting in France last week. The US mid terms are just a couple of weeks away now too so will Donald Trump come out with something to rattle the markets on the campaign trail this week? There are so many different things to weigh up for investors at the moment. I think the high levels of uncertainty are definitely impacting retail participation levels at the moment. Let’s see what this week brings.
That’s all from me, I’m on holiday next week so see you in two weeks time… Happy investing!
Carl Rogan
