LONDON, Feb 11 : European stocks were little changed on Wednesday as jitters about artificial intelligence disruption persisted, while S&P 500 futures edged higher as investors awaited U.S. jobs data later in the day.
The U.S. dollar fell for a fourth straight session and the yen extended its rally, in a potential shift in investor thinking since Sunday’s landslide election victory for Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 index was last roughly flat. Tech stocks were hit by a fall in French software maker Dassault Systemes amid simmering fears about disruption from artificial intelligence to companies ranging from insurers and software makers to wealth managers.
“What we’re seeing now is investors being a lot more discerning in terms of their selections within the AI sphere,” said Aneeka Gupta, equity and commodity strategist at WisdomTree.
Germany’s DAX slipped 0.14 per cent, while Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.72 per cent.
Futures on the U.S. S&P 500 rose 0.15 per cent while those for the tech-dominated Nasdaq were 0.1 per cent higher.
INVESTORS WEIGH AI’S IMPACT
Benchmark stock indexes have continued to trade near all-time highs despite worries about AI hitting certain sectors, as investors have pivoted towards companies they see as less likely to be negatively affected.
The S&P finished less than 1 per cent below January’s all-time high on Tuesday, slipping 0.3 per cent, even as wealth management firms suffered a selloff over renewed fears that new AI models could shake up the sector.
Europe’s STOXX 600 and Britain’s FTSE 100 both hit record highs earlier this month.
“Large language models can’t simply create replacements for medicines and raw materials,” said Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown. “Surging energy and rare earths demand can be taken as a positive for some key industries.”
KEY US JOBS DATA LOOMING
Data due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT) is expected to show U.S. non-farm payrolls increased by 70,000 last month after rising 50,000 in December.
But annual benchmark payrolls revision could downgrade job growth over the last year by 750,000 to 900,000 positions, according to analysts. The report was initially due last Friday but was delayed by a government shutdown.
Data on Tuesday showed U.S. retail sales unexpectedly flatlined in December, causing traders to nudge up bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields slipped to a one-month low of 4.129 per cent on Wednesday, after falling 5 basis points on Tuesday.
DOLLAR WILTS AS YEN SHINES
The potentially weaker economic outlook and a resurgent yen weighed on the dollar on Wednesday, with the key index tracking the U.S. currency down 0.34 per cent to 96.58, around a two-week low.
Trade in Asia was lightened by a holiday in Japan, but a third straight session of gains for the yen had it at 153.13 per dollar and set traders talking about whether it was catching a boost from Tokyo or riding high on dollar softness.
It is up about 2.5 per cent on the dollar since Takaichi won a sweeping victory on Sunday, confounding some expectations that concern about her stimulus plans would keep pressure on the currency and on bonds.
“The fact that she has had such a landslide victory in a way is giving a lot more policy clarity to investors,” said Gupta, adding that the threat of government intervention to boost the yen still loomed in the background.
Nikkei futures rose on Wednesday as Asian stocks climbed, though the cash market was shut for a holiday.
Gold rose back above $5,000 an ounce, while bitcoin slipped 2 per cent to around $67,000.
