Monday and Tuesday: The thought of a viable vaccine against COVID-19 and the European stimulus package drove the markets. The American benchmarks gained up to 0.81% as TECH100 did. USA30 added 0.6%. Japan225 rose 0.56%.
The European benchmarks traded higher by more than 1%, Germany30 leading the way with 1.6%.
The Asian markets weren't moved by the PBOC's decision to keep the lending rate as it was, marking the third consecutive month of stillness. However, the news was overshadowed by a large number of infections. HongKong45 lost 0.38%.
Zoom, one of Microsoft’s competitors, launched a new videoconferencing system. Although the specialists were happy about the news, the market not so much; at that time, it traded lower by 0.70%.
The past quarter wasn’t a particularly good one for Halliburton. It posted a net loss of $1.68 billion, and a revenue of $3.20 billion, missing every expectation that analysts had. At that time, the stock lost 2.5%.
This year, Chevron closed the largest deal in the US energy sector by purchasing Noble for $5 billion.
GlaxoSmithKline signed a deal that will buy 10% in the German company CureVac for 150 million EUR.
Wednesday: Despite the international tensions, some of the benchmarks performed well. USA500 added 0.32%, while USA30 gained 0.43%. HongKong45 rose 0.26%. However, Australia200 dropped by 1.12%, but AUD/USD closed at its highest since April 2019 - $0.7138.
Europe50 slid 1%, but EUR/USD gained 0.41% to $1.1543.
Some of the world's biggest companies have begun to worry about their carbon footprint, and consequently, they have started to take some measures. Companies like Unilever, Starbucks, Apple, Nike, and others have pledged to be emissions-free by 2050.
By the latest financial report, Snap had a 17% increase in the number of daily active users reaching 238 million. The revenue came in at $454 million, a 17% increase from last year’s $388 million. The stock price lost 11%.
The tensions between the States and China are still in full bloom, with countries closing each other’s consulates. The conflict started over violations of human rights by 11 Chinese companies, and scientific innovation hacking regarding the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Thursday: The markets were brought up to reality by a large number of unemployment claims. The American benchmarks lost up to 2.29%, and the Dollar Index fell 0.7% to 94. 585.
The earnings season made the European markets move: Europe50 added 0.57%, Germany30 climbed 0.64%, while UK100 gained 0.58%.
Gold reached a nine-year peak by trading at $1,888 per ounce.
Tesla's revenue came in at $6.04 billion, marking its fourth positive quarter. After the report, the stock price traded higher by 5%.
Microsoft saw a 6% increase in revenue to $11.8 billion, as the latest financial report showed. This year, the stock price gained 34%.
The weekly unemployment claims report presented higher than expected figures. 1.416 million people filed for the first time for unemployment benefits. Due to the pandemic, more than 52 million people became jobless since March.
Friday: Unilever’s stock price gained 7.2% after it posted an overall positive financial report, as the sales in hygiene products and sanitizers increased by 25%. The $3.80 profit was partly due to the high demand for ice cream and tea, which increased by 26% in the last quarter.
PetroChina and Sinopec are to close a $56 billion deal with the state-owned PipeChina, as the government wants to reform the oil and gas pipeline network. After the news, PetroChina gained more than 3%.
American Express fell short off the mark revenue-wise, which has slid 29% to $7.68 billion. The net income came in at $257 million from last year's $1.76 billion.
Twitter posted revenues of $683 million, below the $702 million consensus. But its userbase increased by 20 million and reached 186 million.
The stock price traded higher by 4% after the report.
See how the international markets performed on CAPEX.com!
Sources: marketwatch.com, investing.com, finance.yahoo.com, cnbc.com
