The international stock index rose 7.7 percent at the beginning of the year, but the shares on the Helsinki stock exchange fell in price.
Beginning year the stock market has done better than in five years, says the newspaper Financial Times.
The strengthening of stocks has been accelerated by estimates that the United States will avoid a recession despite the strong tightening of monetary policy. Another significant reason is investors’ enthusiasm for artificial intelligence.
The MSCI index, which measures the performance of shares of large and medium-sized companies in 23 countries, has strengthened by 7.7 percent in the beginning of the year. It is more than once since January–March 2019, the Financial Times writes.
The general index of the Helsinki Stock Exchange has weakened by more than four percent this year, while the European Stoxx Europe 600 index has strengthened by seven percent in the same period.
A large part of the companies on the Helsinki Stock Exchange operate in industry, the prospects of which are overshadowed by the slow economic growth in the euro area in particular.
Stateside the economy has grown steadily. The growth rate of gross domestic product was 3.4 percent at the end of last year. It means that the economy grew by 0.9 percent from the previous quarter.
The United States is the largest national economy in the world, which has a significant impact on the entire world economy.
Due to stable economic growth, investors no longer expect the US central bank to cut interest rates as fast as they did at the turn of the year. Financial markets expect the central bank to lower its key interest rate three times this year by 0.25 percentage points.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted at the end of January that the US economy will grow by 2.1 percent this year and 1.7 percent next year. The IMF estimates that the economy of the euro area will grow by 0.9 percent this year and 1.7 percent next year.
A semiconductor company The value of Nvidia’s stock rose by as much as 88 percent at the beginning of the year, fueled by the artificial intelligence craze. The company develops microprocessors necessary for the utilization of artificial intelligence.
According to the Financial Times, Nvidia’s market value increased by more than 1,000 billion dollars during the first three months of the year. It is responsible for a fifth of the international increase in the value of shares.
The company’s market value is currently 2,260 billion dollars.