European stocks fall on Ukraine-Russia fears, US focused on earnings

FILE – The morning sun shines on Wall Street in New York’s Financial District on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

New York, United States — Stock markets fell in Europe but finished mostly higher in New York Tuesday as markets weighed worries about escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Moscow vowed to react “accordingly” after saying Ukraine had fired its first US-made long-range missile onto Russian territory, after being cleared to do so by US President Joe Biden.

“The news rattled markets this morning, driving European stocks lower and reinforcing bearish momentum” against the euro, said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at Forex.com.

READ: Asian markets rally after US bounce as Nvidia comes into focus

US shares also fell at the opening but then clawed back, lifted by strong guidance from retailer Walmart and expectations of positive earnings from chipmaker Nvidia.

While the Dow finished in the red, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended in positive territory.

“We’re kind of on our own continent over here,” Kim Forrest of Bokeh Capital Partners said of the US investor mindset.

“In time, we would be impacted by an escalation of tensions. But today we’re going to shrug that off, because tomorrow we get Nvidia.”

All the main indexes in Europe closed in the red, though off their lows for the day.

Still, it was a marked reversal of the optimism seen on Wall Street on Monday, when stocks shrugged off uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariff plans to push higher, with the momentum carrying over into the Asian trading day.

“Caution returned early Tuesday, this time as events thousands of miles from Wall Street raised geopolitical risk concerns,” said Joe Mazzola, a strategist at Charles Schwab.

On the corporate front, retail giant Walmart jumped three percent as it boosted guidance ahead of what it sees as a positive Christmas season.

READ: Receding interest rates seen boosting PSEi toward 8,000 in 2025

Nvidia was up almost five percent. The AI chip giant, often seen as a bellwether stock for the technology sector, reports its quarterly earnings after the market closes Wednesday.

In Europe, shares in German industrial giant Thyssenkrupp rose almost 12 percent after the group said it expected a return to profit in its next financial year — despite posting a hefty full-year loss for the second year in a row.

Nestle slid two percent after new chief executive Laurent Freixe announced a plan to slash costs and have a standalone water and beverages business.

Equities have seen big swings since Trump was elected US president this month, as investors balance the impact of corporate tax cuts against a potential trade war with China and others.

Any resulting surge in inflation would give a headache to policymakers at the US Federal Reserve, who are still fighting to bring prices under control.

Key figures around 2145 GMT

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 43,268.94 (close)

New York – S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 5,916.98 (close)

New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.0 percent at 18,987.47 (close)

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,099.02 (close)

Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.7 percent at 7,229.64 (close)

Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.7 percent at 19,060.31 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.5 percent at 38,414.43 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.4 percent at 19,663.67 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,346.01 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0599 from $1.0598 on Monday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2682 from $1.2678

Dollar/yen: UP at 154.67 yen from 154.66 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.54 pence from 83.59 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $69.39 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP less than 0.1 percent at $73.31 per barrel