While stock exchanges in Europe were hit by investor nervousness on the eve of the European Central Bank meeting, Asian and U.S. markets rose in the middle of the week. Wall Street mainly thanks to technology stocks.
Wednesday’s Business Optimism
Shares on the New York Stock Exchange entered Wednesday’s trading on an optimistic note. The main S&P 500 index firmed by 0.7 percent, while the technology Nasdaq rose by more than 1.6 percent. U.S. stocks were helped by a great start to the mid-year earnings season. Of the 60 companies included in the S&P 500 that have reported their results so far, nearly 80 percent have exceeded analysts’ estimates.
Fear of European Central Bank meetings
Wall Street was also helped by investor nervousness over the upcoming Meeting of the European Central Bank scheduled for Thursday. This, in turn, had a negative impact on European stocks, where the stock exchanges in Milan and Madrid weakened the most.
As a result, the euro also weakened against the dollar. The common European currency touched parity with the dollar a few days ago, but since then it has started to strengthen again thanks to the expectation that the European Central Bank will raise its key interest rates.
