The US government struck a blow to the ever rising shares of the major US tech companies after it said that it was investigating Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) for anticompetitive practices. Much of the rally on US indices has been fuelled by the FANG stocks and a prolonged legal affair could erode some of that.
European stock markets started the day cautiously because of FAANG concerns and mixed domestic corporate news tugged the indices in opposite directions. In the car sector Daimler reported a second quarter loss but French peer Peugot still managed to make a profit in that period despite a weaker outlook for car sales.
A decline in iron-ore prices hit Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) shares which traded over 3% lower this morning followed by slightly milder declines by BHP Billiton (LON:BHPB) and Anglo American (LON:AAL). Surprisingly the DAX held in the black despite the fact that German manufacturing fell deeper into recession in July.
Sterling stabilises after Johnson win, euro slides ahead of ECB
Now that Britain has a new Prime Minister, the pound is beginning to stabilise, proving that a lot of the scepticism about Boris Johnson’s Brexit policy was already built into the price. Sterling is trading a touch higher at $1.2455 this morning, having a first breather in five days. In contrast the euro declined to the weakest level since May ahead of the European Central Bank policy meeting on Thursday, expected to pave the way for monetary easing.
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