Oil tops $116 with stocks mixed on earnings, AI / Photo: SEBASTIEN BOZON - AFP/File
Oil tops $116 with stocks mixed on earnings, AI
Oil prices rose to their highest levels since late April on Friday, with benchmark crude contract Brent North Sea climbing above $116 a barrel as the Middle East conflict raged on.
Global markets were contending "with concerns around surging oil prices and the sustainability of AI spending," noted AJ Bell's head of financial analysis Danni Hewson.
"Escalating tensions in Ukraine and the prospect of increased energy demand as the northern hemisphere heads into the winter months are only adding to the upwards pressure on oil and gas prices," Hewson added.
The benchmark international oil contract, Brent crude for December, rose more than 3 percent to $116.72 per barrel.
The benchmark US contract, West Texas Intermediate, jumped 3.8 percent to $103.27 a barrel.
Wall Street's main indices spent most of the day in negative territory. The Dow finished down 1.2 percent, more than the 0.2 percent retreat in the Nasdaq, reversing its trend in recent sessions.
"Today everyone appears to be rotating back into the stuff they rotated out of yesterday," Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading and investing platform IG.
"No one wants to be caught holding risk over the weekend," he added.
European stock markets mostly dropped following some poorly-received earnings from Gucci parent Kering and Swedish group Volvo Cars.
Asian equity indices closed out the week mixed as technology companies managed to claw back some of the week's hefty losses.
Rising energy prices have influenced movements across stock markets in recent days along with developments in the AI sector as investors have become more leery of massively expensive capital spending outlays for data centers.
"People are now looking at the cap ex as a liability and that's different from six months ago," said Joseph Zidle, chief market strategist at Cresset Capital.
- Gucci, Volvo -
Kering shed more than 16 percent on Friday after the French luxury group published results that failed to reassure investors about a turnaround at its key Gucci brand.
Volvo Cars meanwhile plunged more than 24 percent after it said US tariffs and strong competition from local brands in China pushed it into a third-quarter loss.
In response, the company announced a new five-billion-kronor savings plan it said would lead to about 2,000 job cuts in Sweden and 500 more globally.
Aside from energy markets, AI and earnings next week, focus will fall firmly on interest-rate meetings for the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, as well as an update on US economic growth data.
- Key figures at around 2010 GMT -
Brent North Sea crude: UP 3.1 percent at $116.72 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 3.8 percent at $103.27 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.2 percent at 52,215.16 (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.5 percent at 7,623.68 (close)
New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 25,955.34 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 10,690.36
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.4 percent at 7,782.82
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.8 percent at 25,181.65
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 62,693.16 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.7 percent at 23,093.37 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,690.48 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1194 from $1.1216 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3372 from $1.3401
Dollar/yen: UP at 156.87 yen from 156.77 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 83.71 pence from 83.69 pence
burs-jmb/mjf
E.Quill--MC-UK
