Slight increases in Europe; Wall Street futures are red

12:55

European stock markets are now trading slightly higher. The DAX index rises by about 0.2%, the FTSE advances by about 0.1% and the KAC climbs by about 0.5%.

Trading in the futures contracts on Wall Street continues to be conducted in declines, although these have moderated a little compared to the beginning of the day. The Dow Jones is now down about 0.2%, the S&P 500 is down about 0.6% and the Nasdaq is down about 0.8%.

The chip giant’s stock Nvidia Down about 1.8% in early trading, alongside other stocks in the sector, such as Intel , AMD , Marvel , Micron andSuper Micro Computer .

11:30

Oil prices are now registering declines of over 1%. The price of a barrel of American oil stands at 57.7 dollars, while the price of a barrel of Brent oil stands at about 61.4 dollars. The declines come after yesterday evening it was reported that the US had seized an oil tanker near the coast of Venezuela.

11:00

Trading in Europe is currently running in a mixed trend. The DAX and FTSE indices are trading stably, while the CAC index climbs by about 0.5%.

The Swiss central bank announced that it is leaving the interest rate in the country at 0%, in view of the fact that inflation rose less than expected. The bank noted in its statement that “US tariffs and uncertainty regarding its trade policy have weighed on the global economy”, although economic development in many countries has so far remained “more robust than previously assumed”.

10:15

European stock markets opened the day with slight declines. The DAX index is down by about 0.3%, while the POTSI and KAC are trading stably at this time.

9:35

Asia

In Asia, the stock markets lost ground, after opening their trading day in a positive trend. The Nikkei fell by about 0.9%, the Hang Seng fell by about 0.1%, the Shanghai Stock Exchange lost about 0.7% and the Kospi fell by about 0.6%.

Wall Street

Last night, Wall Street ended the day in the green, after the Federal Reserve decided to lower the US interest rate, for the third time in a row (see expansion under section 4). The Dow Jones index rose by about 1%, the S&P 500 rose by about 0.7% and the Nasdaq climbed by about 0.3%. The Russell 2000 index of small stocks jumped about 1.3% to an all-time high.

This morning, however, Wall Street futures are red, after disappointing reports from Oracle, a major AI player, disappointed investors. The stock fell more than 11%, and other AI stocks like Nvidia andCurvive fell in late trade. The Dow Jones is down about 0.5%, the S&P 500 is losing about 0.9% and the Nasdaq is down about 1.2%.

At CNBC, we noted three key things that emerged during the evening and were perceived by Wall Street as bullish for the stock markets:

The first is the announcement by the Federal Reserve that it will start buying short-term government bonds on Friday and expand its balance sheet, with the first round amounting to about 40 billion dollars.

The second is the emphasis that Powell put in the press conference on the weakness in the labor market. Specifically, some investors attached importance to the fact that in the Fed’s reference to the labor market in the statement published this evening, the words “remaining low” were omitted – and interpreted this as an acknowledgment of the trend of cooling the labor market. According to this interpretation, this means that the Fed is shifting its focus from addressing high inflation to supporting the economy. Let’s recall that the main factor behind the recent interest rate cuts was the weakness in the labor market.

The third is the fact that in response to a question from one of the journalists, Powell ruled out the possibility that there will be interest rate hikes next year and stated that he does not think there is anyone among the Fed members who sees such a scenario as likely.

After the decision to lower interest rates, President Trump – who has been calling for aggressive interest rate cuts for some time, clashing with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell – said that the cut in December could have been “at least double”. While the leading candidate for the position of the next Fed chairman is considered to be the head of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett, Trump indicated that he also plans to meet with former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, who is also considered among the contenders the carriers. “I’m looking for someone who will be honest with interest rates,” Trump said. “Our interest rate should be much lower.”

Overnight, the cloud computing giant’s stock oracle fell by more than 11%, after publishing its quarterly results. The company surpassed analysts’ expectations in the profit line, but its revenues, which stood at $16.06 billion, fell below analysts’ expectations for revenues of $16.21 billion. At the same time, Oracle reported that its capital expenditures in the quarter were 12 billion dollars – an increase compared to 8.5 billion dollars in the previous quarter and above analysts’ expectations for a figure of 8.4 billion dollars.

The company also reported future performance obligations (RPO) amounting to $523 billion – an annual increase of 438%. The company stated that the jump was driven by new commitments fromMeta , Nvidia and other customers.

Oracle has been scrutinized by investors very carefully recently, against the background of concerns about inflated valuations on Wall Street and the development of a bubble in the field of AI. The stock fell about 23% in November, posting its weakest monthly performance since 2001. As of last night’s closing price, the stock is about 32% off its September high – though it’s still up 34% since the start of the year.

The commodity and currency markets

In the crypto market, after Bitcoin rose for a short time yesterday to the level of 94 thousand dollars, against the background of the interest rate cut in the USA, this morning it falls by about 3% and trades around 90 thousand dollars – in correlation with the futures contracts on Wall Street, which are also registering declines.

Strategists have become cautious about the crypto’s upside prospects at the end of the year. According to Nick Pakrin, investment analyst and co-founder of Coin Bureau, “momentum has not been on Bitcoin’s side recently, so we may end 2025 below $100,000.” However, he expects the crypto to rebound when Trump’s nomination to replace Powell is announced. Bitcoin has struggled to recover in recent weeks. It is down 2% so far this year, putting it on its worst annual performance since the crypto winter of 2022, which saw it lose over 64% of its value. The currency is also moving sharply away from stocks for the first time since 2014, while the S&P 500 is up 16%.

forecast

The Piper Sandler investment bank expects the S&P 500 index to stand at 7,150 points at the end of next year – which reflects an upside of a little more than 4% compared to its current price. However, the bank believes that the road there is not expected to be smooth, to say the least.

A study conducted by the bank revealed that, for the most part, mid-term election years in the US are volatile and have the potential for a 20% drop, usually between the second and third quarters. However, the bank still believes in the bull market, which will continue to be driven by the momentum of AI and an economy that shows strength – but also by rotation among the various sectors in the index and expansion beyond the large technology stocks.

The rotation from speculative and more expensive areas of the market, such as technology and bitcoin, to more defensive areas such as industry and health insurance, is a prominent trend on Wall Street recently – among other things, against the backdrop of concerns about inflated valuations on Wall Street. Thus, the strongest sectors in the S&P 500 in November were the health insurance sector, with an increase of about 9%, followed by the industrial and consumer staples sectors, with increases of about 4.5% and about 4%, respectively.

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. At the beginning of the week, veteran strategist Ed Jordani also published a similar recommendation, and even suggested reducing the weight of the large technology stocks in the portfolios.

Piper Sandler’s forecast for next year is considered conservative compared to forecasts of other major US banks, with the most optimistic suggesting that it will reach the 8,000 point area by the end of 2026 – an upside of about 17%.