European Equities Close Lower in Monday Trading; Spectris Shares Rise on Advent Bid
European stock markets closed lower Monday as the Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 0.1%, Germany's DAX 40 fe
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
France's Mistral launches Europe's first AI reasoning model
By Supantha Mukherjee and Kenrick Cai PARIS (Reuters) -Mistral on Tuesday launched Europe's first AI reasoning model, which uses logical thinking to create a response, as it tries to keep pace with American and Chinese rivals at the forefront of AI development. The French startup has attempted to differentiate itself by championing its European roots, winning the support of French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as making some of its models open source in contrast to the proprietary offerings of OpenAI or Alphabet's Google. Mistral is considered Europe's best shot at having a home-grown AI competitor, but has lagged behind in terms of market share and revenue. Reasoning models use chain-of-thought techniques - a process that generates answers with intermediate reasoning abilities when solving complex problems. They could also be a promising path forward in advancing AI's capabilities as the traditional approach of building ever-bigger large language models by adding more data and computing power begins to hit limitations. For Mistral, which was valued by venture capitalists at $6.2 billion, an industry shift away from "scaling up" could give it a window to catch up against better capitalized rivals. China's DeepSeek broke through as a viable competitor in January through its low-cost, open-sourced AI models, including one for reasoning. OpenAI was the first to launch its reasoning models last year, followed by Google a few months later. Meta, which also offers its models open-sourced, has not yet released a standalone reasoning model, though it said its latest top-shelf model has reasoning capabilities. Mistral is launching an open-sourced Magistral Small model and a more powerful version called Magistral Medium for business customers. "The best human thinking isn't linear - it weaves through logic, insight, uncertainty, and discovery. Reasoning language models have enabled us to augment and delegate complex thinking and deep understanding to AI," Mistral said. American companies have mostly kept their most advanced models proprietary, though a handful, such as Meta, has released open-source models. In contrast, Chinese firms ranging from DeepSeek to Alibaba have taken the open-source path to demonstrate their technological capabilities. Mistral Small is available for download on Hugging Face's platform and can reason in languages including English, French, Spanish, Arabic and simplified Chinese.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The foreign markets soaring to record highs in 2025
Global markets have been outpacing US stocks (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) and growing at massive rates year-to-date in 2025. Yahoo Finance markets and data editor Jared Blikre — who also hosts the Stocks In Translation podcast — tracks a handful of foreign market ETFs for various countries, including Greece, Japan, Italy, Poland, and Israel. Twice a week, Stocks In Translation cuts through the market mayhem, noisy numbers and hyperbole to give you the information you need to make the right trade for your portfolio. You can find more episodes here, or watch on your favorite streaming service. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. The itinerary for global markets this year had been busy, but the S&P 500 has barely left the gate up a modest 2%. Meanwhile, several single-stock ETFs have already gone long haul, uh chalking up 30 and even 40 plus percent gains. And today, we're going to be we're going to see who's been filling up their passports with the juiciest returns. I'm Jared Blikre, host of Stocks in Translation. So let's take a look at the country leaderboard. Greece and Poland are at the top of our list. Each of these European countries are clocking in returns in the mid 40s. Austria and Spain are right behind at 40% each, with Italy in the mid 30s. Continuing down the list, Germany is right behind Italy with a 33% surge. Meanwhile, the UAE, Israel, and Japan are each posting respectable low double-digit gains this year. And in case you're wondering, these ETFs are all priced in US dollars, so these gains are also benefiting from the broad-based weakness in the US dollar this year. Another note, this list is not meant to be exhausted. Now, let's flip through some of the charts here. First, the record relay, as I'm calling it. Germany tagged a fresh record high last Thursday, followed Friday by Israel. And that's after Japan notched its own record earlier in the week. It's almost like global momentum is passing the baton. Now for the Mediterranean makeover, check out Greece. Like a Phoenix rising from the from the global financial crisis, as ashes, excuse me, Athens is back on investors' radar, flaunting the highest price in nearly a decade, though still down 25% from its 20 2014 high. And say hello to the periphery club. Med is back, with Spain and Italy joining the Greek resurgence. All three of these indices are up five 50% over the last two years. Shifting north, Poland and Austria are leading a Central European surge, with Poland up over 50% in the last two years and Austria just short of that. And don't forget about the United Arab Emirates to the east, just a hair from a fresh decade long high, as it's returning 25% plus over two years. Finally, let's take a look and zoom in on Austria's long awaited breakout, nearly two decades in the making. After the roller coaster ride along the global financial crisis, the country traded sideways for 17 years, finally breaking out of a trading range only a month ago. Bottom line for investors, yes, these returns are impressive, but is US exceptionalism really a thing of the past? Have the volatile tariff experiments, have those upped the uncertainty vibe too high? Or did the post liberation day market plunge clear the deck for the next US-led surge? If so, the last month of consolidation near near record highs in the S&P, that might just look like a layover by year end. And if not, we could just see some more sideways action that frustrates both the bulls and the bears. Only time is going to tell, but you cannot deny the bullish price action breaking out around the world this year. And tune into Stocks and Translation for more market decoding deep dives, new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays on Yahoo Finance's website, or wherever you find your podcast. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trading Day-Buoyancy trumping uncertainty
By Jamie McGeever ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - TRADING DAY Making sense of the forces driving global markets By Jamie McGeever, Markets Columnist I'm excited to announce that I'm now part of Reuters Open Interest (ROI), an essential new source for data-driven, expert commentary on market and economic trends. You can find ROI on the Reuters website, and you can follow us on LinkedIn and X. Global markets remain buoyant, awaiting the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks in London and U.S. inflation figures on Wednesday, both of which could have a bearing on guidance from the Federal Reserve next week and investor sentiment more broadly. In my column today I look at how the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration could cause labor market distortions and headaches for Fed officials. More on that below, but first, a roundup of the main market moves. If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today. 1. OpenAI taps Google in unprecedented cloud deal despiteAI rivalry, sources say 2. Investment glass seems half full near mid-point of 2025:Mike Dolan 3. China's rare-earth lever is best used carefully 4. European defence supercycle means scrapping deficitfears 5. The EU can play it cool with Trump's trade threats Today's Key Market Moves * World stocks hit record peaks for a fifth day, and on WallStreet the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rise closer to their recent U.S. indices gain as much as 0.6%. * Intel shares leap almost 8%, the biggest advancer on theS&P 500, while energy (+1.8%) and consumer cyclicals (+1.3%) arethe best-performing sectors. * Sterling is among the biggest decliners in G10 FX,falling 0.4% against the dollar and euro after unexpectedly weakUK labor market data. * Colombia's peso is the biggest mover in global FX, sliding1.5% following attempted assassination on Sunday of SenatorMiguel Uribe, a potential presidential candidate. The governmentalso temporarily suspends fiscal rules on Tuesday. * U.S. bond yields slip, no more than 2 bps. Dealers digest3-year auction, Bloomberg reports that Treasury Secretary ScottBessent could be a contender to replace Powell at the Fed. Alleyes now on Wednesday's CPI data. Buoyancy trumping uncertainty On the day The World Bank slashed global growth forecasts, warning of the "significant headwind" from tariffs and heightened uncertainty, global stocks clocked their fifth consecutive all-time high. Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 is a whisker from reaching new peaks and Germany's DAX hit an all-time high last week, while on Wall Street the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are within a couple of percentage points of new record levels also. Yet the reasons for equity investors to be fearful right now are plentiful - worries over growth, inflation, tariffs, long-term interest rates, U.S. debt and deficits, and the fact that China, the world's second-largest economy, is still mired in a low growth and deflationary funk. Something not quite adding up, right? Perhaps. On the other hand, the fiscal taps are being turned on in China and Germany, British finance minister Rachel Reeves outlines her multi-year 2 trillion pounds ($2.7 trillion) spending plan on Wednesday, and U.S. President Donald Trump's 'big beautiful bill' currently going through Congress is front-loaded with fiscal stimulus too. None of that is really fresh news but the upshot is a lot of liquidity coursing through the global economy. Right now it is something investors appear willing to accept even if the price is increased debt, and for the U.S. and UK in particular, worse public finances. Big corporate deals are being struck, like the OpenAI and Google cloud service tie-up and Meta Platforms reportedly paying $15 billion for a 49% stake in AI startup Scale AI, and implied equity and bond volatility is low. After a period of fretting more about deficits and spiking bond yields, investors may now be viewing the future with their glass half full. Fiscal stimulus is coming and interest rates around the world are being cut. The monetary outliers are Japan and the U.S., but the Bank of Japan could be near the end of its tightening cycle and the Fed may be about to begin easing later this year. On top of this, there's a general belief that Trump will back down from his hardline stance on tariffs and that a palatable deal with China will be reached, the so-called 'TACO' - Trump Always Chickens Out - trade. Fresh news on that front, at least, should be forthcoming on Wednesday. Trump immigration crackdown creates jobs distortions, Fed headaches Seismic shifts in immigration are distorting the U.S. employment picture, making it harder for investors and policymakers to know exactly how much the labor market is actually slowing. Assuming the Trump administration makes good on its pledge to reduce immigration, either by stopping the flow of people coming into the country or by deporting many already here, the labor supply will shrink. The long-term impact of lower immigration is generally agreed to be negative, as new workers are needed to replace retirees, fill job vacancies and drive economic growth. Over time, fewer new workers will likely mean lower growth. But in the short term, a smaller pool of workers results in a tighter labor market, which keeps a lid on the unemployment rate, albeit artificially and probably temporarily. This may already be playing out. Figures released last week showed that employment in May fell by 696,000 jobs. That's the biggest single monthly decline since the historic losses seen during the pandemic in early 2020. Some economists argue that the recent drop is a consequence of Trump's immigration crackdown. Nonfarm payrolls rose 139,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, which though higher than it was two years ago, is still historically low by any measure. All else being equal, this points to a tight labor market, which should put upward pressure on wages and perhaps even warrant a more hawkish policy stance from the Federal Reserve. But that is almost certainly a misreading. When labor supply and the labor force participation rate fall, this brings down a country's so-called 'breakeven' job growth. That's the number of net new jobs the economy needs to keep up with growth in the working-age population and maintain a steady unemployment rate. That figure is falling, and if the Trump administration toughens up its anti-immigration policies further, this decline is likely to accelerate. LOWER FOR LONGER According to economists at Morgan Stanley, breakeven employment growth averaged 210,000 jobs a month last year, and is averaging 170,000 so far this year. They reckon it will fall to 90,000 by the end of this year and 80,000 next year. Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, goes further, estimating that the breakeven rate is "quickly approaching" 50,000 jobs a month due to weakening labor supply growth, primarily because of reduced immigration. "The unemployment rate can remain low, but for the wrong reasons," Sweet says. If these projections prove accurate, monthly employment and job growth could continue to slow without raising the unemployment rate. The contradictory signals this sends could create confusion for both investors and policymakers. In his press conference after the most recent Fed policy meeting, Chair Jerome Powell repeatedly told reporters that the labor market is "solid". The unemployment rate "remains low," and the labor market is "at or near maximum employment." If these headline indicators are the gauge, Powell is absolutely correct. But he also stressed that policymakers are looking at the "whole huge array" of labor market indicators for a truer guide. One of those inputs in the months ahead will no doubt be net immigration. And that could generate significant uncertainty, as there are huge gray areas and wide margins of error when trying to estimate net immigration and its impact on the labor market. In January, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projected net immigration of 2 million people this year and 1.5 million next year, down from an estimated 3.3 million in 2023. With Trump seemingly hardening his stance on immigration, those projections could turn out to be far too high. Morgan Stanley's economists just slashed their immigration forecasts to 800,000 this year and 500,000 next year. If these figures turn out to be closer to reality, we could soon be looking at a "tight" labor market with monthly payrolls gains of well under 100,000. Pity the poor Fed Chair who has to communicate policy in that environment. What could move markets tomorrow? * South Korea unemployment (May) * Japan wholesale inflation (May) * ECB officials speaking at various events, including: Boardmembers Claudia Buch and Philip Lane, and Governing Councilmember Gabriel Makhlouf * UK finance minister Rachel Reeves announces multi-yearspending plan * $39 billion U.S. 10-year Treasury note auction * U.S. CPI inflation (May) Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. (By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Nia Williams) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
