Mixed trend in Europe; The European Commission has opened an investigation against Google

14:50

The stock markets in Europe continue to trade in a mixed trend. The Dax index rises by about 0.3%, the Posti adds to its value by about 0.1%, and the KAC decreases by about 0.6%.

Share of the glasses company Essilor Luxotica Decreases by about 4.5%, after Google announced that it will launch artificial intelligence glasses. This, following Essilor’s collaboration with Meta in the production of smart glasses.

At the same time in the USA, last night President Trump said that the USA will allow the chip giant Nvidia to send its advanced H200 artificial intelligence chips to “customers who will be approved” in China, “under conditions that will enable solid national security”. stock Nvidia Although it is up about 1% in early trading, it does not seem to have a broad investment on Wall Street, when the futures on the leading indices are trading stably at this time.

More on Wall Street, a stock Cognate The Israeli one jumps by about 5% after the publication of reports. The revenues of the Israeli software company increased by 13.2% compared to last year to 100.7 million dollars, and the forecasts also increased – for 2026, Cognite expects revenues of about 400 million.

12:45

European stock markets are currently trading in a mixed trend. The Dax index rises by about 0.4%, the FTSE advances by about 0.1% and the KAC falls by about 0.3%.

Deutsche Bank announced that it lowered its recommendation on the car giant’s stock Volvo from “buy” to “hold” and lowered the target price she set by 1.8%. The stock is now trading lower.

10:45

The European Union has launched an investigation against Google over the search giant’s use of online content for its AI applications. The European Commission said it was investigating whether Google violated EU competition laws by using content from advertisers, as well as content uploaded to YouTube, which it owns, for AI purposes.

The EU Commissioner for Competition Laws, Teresa Rivera, said that “AI brings remarkable innovation and many benefits to people and businesses across Europe, but this progress cannot come at the expense of the principles at the heart of our companies. Therefore, we are investigating whether Google has imposed unfair terms on advertisers and content creators, putting competing AI models at a disadvantage and violating EU competition laws.”

10:20

European stock markets opened mainly with price increases. The Dax index rises by about 0.4%, the KAC climbs by about 0.1% and the Potsi trades stably.

8:30

Asia

Asian stock markets are trading this morning mainly with lower prices, after the declines registered on Wall Street last night. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange falls by about 1.4%, the Shanghai Stock Exchange falls by about 0.4%, the Kospi weakens by about 0.3% and the Nikkei climbs by about 0.1%.

Wall Street

Last night on Wall Street, the leading indices closed in net losses, thus breaking a streak of four days of gains. The Nasdaq fell about 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones lost about 0.3% and about 0.4%, respectively. This morning, Wall Street futures are trading steady.

Trading was conducted while investors await the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision this Wednesday, when the market expects an interest rate cut of a quarter of a percent, although there are increasing voices suggesting that after this cut, the Fed will take a step back from further interest rate cuts in the foreseeable future.

Chip company stock Broadcom increased by over 2%, after the Information website reported that Microsoft is in talks to move its custom chip business fromMarvel to Broadcom. Marvel shares fell more than 6% following the report. Excluding these two companies, the chip sector as a whole had a positive day, with companies like Broadcom , Nvidia , TSMC , Micron andAMD traded up.

On the other hand, technology giants like Tesla , Alphabetical (Google) , dark , Meta , Amazon andPalantir Finished the day with descents.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that IBM Signed a deal to purchase the information infrastructure company Confluent (Confluent) for about 11 billion dollars. Confluent’s stock, whose market value is about $8 billion, jumped nearly 30%. According to the report, the company provides technology that helps manage streams of real-time information used by large AI models. IBM shares ended the day unchanged.

Yesterday there was also another turn in the story of the acquisition of the media company Warner Bros. Discovery. Days after the announcement that Netflix you purchase the Warner Brothers Discovery In a $72 billion deal, Paramount put on the table a counter offer to buy the whole company. The offer stands at $30 per share and reflects a total value of more than $108 billion, an offer that WBD’s board of directors rejected just last week. Warner and Paramount shares jumped about 4% and about 9%, respectively, while Netflix lost about 3.5%.

During the night, President Trump said that the US would allow the chip giant Nvidia to send its advanced H200 artificial intelligence chips to “approved customers” in China, “under conditions that will enable solid national security.” In a post he published on his social network, Truth Social, he wrote that “President Xi responded positively! 25% of the funds will be paid to the United States. This policy will support American jobs, strengthen manufacturing in the United States and benefit American taxpayers.” Trump also wrote that “a similar approach will apply to AMD, Intel and other great American companies”.

Last August, Nvidia and AMD agreed to share with the US 15% of their revenue from the sale of chips to China. However, around that time, it was reported that China warned companies against using the H20 chips that Nvidia produced especially for the country. CNBC reported that the H200 chip is more advanced than the H20, but is not considered Nvidia’s most advanced product. The company’s stock rose about 2% in trading late on Wall Street, and AMD stock climbed about 1.5%.

Commodities and currencies

Volatility in digital currencies continues. Bitcoin added about 1% to its value yesterday, but this morning it is down more than 1% below the $90,000 mark. The currency is far from the peak it reached at the beginning of October, when it surpassed the $120,000 mark.

In the commodity market, oil prices recorded decreases of up to 2% yesterday, against the background of the ongoing contacts to end the Russia-Ukraine war. The price of a barrel of American oil is about $58.9, while the price of a barrel of Brent oil is about $62.5. Tamas Varga, an oil markets analyst at PVM, told CNBC that “if there is any kind of agreement in the foreseeable future regarding Ukraine, then Russian oil exports will increase and put downward pressure on prices.”

Macro

In the shadow of waiting for the Fed’s decision at the Psagot investment house, they estimate that “Powell has a narrow majority of seven members in favor of another interest rate reduction. However, the deep division may lead to additional minority views and we may even see three opposing members, which has not happened since 2016. In return for their support, the hawkish members are expected to demand wording in the lender’s announcement that would imply a slowdown in the reduction process in early 2026, at least until the picture becomes clear More on the inflation side. As long as the trend remains as it is today, i.e. low unemployment, sticky inflation and only a slowdown in the hiring of workers, Wednesday’s decision may also mark the beginning of a long waiting period”, Psagot concludes.

Also in the US macro sector: Adi Borkowitz, senior investment manager, overseas client desk, in active investment portfolio management, points to a sharp split between affluent households in the US, who continue to drive consumption, and the lower-middle class, which is under increasing pressure. A figure that he estimates “will continue to affect the activities of companies and the economic dynamics in the coming year.

“On the strong side of the economy, companies such as American Express, Visa, Marriott and Booking report continued high demand from affluent customers, who enjoy the wealth effect and continue to spend on travel, entertainment and premium services. On the other hand, consumer goods companies report a weak consumer: erosion of disposable income, rising food and housing prices, declining sales volumes and a sense of frustration. Young people are also faced with Relatively high unemployment and student loans,” notes Berkovic.

forecast

Ed Yardeni, a veteran Wall Street strategist and president of the investment consulting company Yardeni Research, wrote on Sunday in a message to investors that he decided to recommend a weight reduction of the “Magnificent Seven” – for the first time in 15 years.

Jordani pointed to the high concentration of the technology and communications services sectors within the S&P 500 index, and recommended giving them a market weight (equivalent to the “hold” recommendation), and rebalancing the investment portfolio with an overweight to sectors such as finance, industry and health insurance. Several investment banks recently announced that they are raising their recommendation for the health insurance sector to overweight, including Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.

“It no longer makes sense for us to continue to recommend being overweight on the technology and communication services sectors, as we have done since 2010,” Yardani wrote. “We see more than competition coming to bite into the juicy profits of the Magnificent Seven. We also anticipate that the productivity and profit margins of the ‘impressive 493’ will receive a boost from the technologies that will make things happen, and are sold by the ‘Magnificent Seven’ and other technology companies. In practice, our position is that every company develops into a technology company.”