Nvidia drops as UK banks and WPP move sharply

Nvidia fell 1.9% late on Monday as investors turned cautious ahead of its mid-week update, while Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise slid after broker downgrades and Apple eased 1.8% as Berkshire Hathaway cut its stake. In the UK, the FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% on Monday, with Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered all lower and WPP jumping 11% after reports of takeover interest. Asian markets weakened again on Tuesday, while the yen hovered near intervention levels as Japan’s government prepared a large fiscal package and super-long JGB yields rose to their highest since 1999.

Equities

The FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% late on Monday, marking a third day of losses as financial stocks pulled the index lower. Banks were weaker throughout the session, with Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered all falling between 0.7% and 1% by the close. Construction-linked names also lost ground after new data from Rightmove showed average UK home prices fell 1.8% in the four weeks to 8 November, the biggest drop for this time of year since 2012.

Among the sharpest moves in London, Genuit slumped 13.8% on Monday after forecasting full-year profit below market expectations. HICL Infrastructure dropped 6.6% after confirming a £3.98 billion merger with The Renewables Infrastructure Group. WPP went against the wider trend, rising 11% during Monday trading after the Times reported takeover interest from Havas as well as private-equity firms Apollo and KKR. Gains in healthcare and utilities stocks lent modest support to the broader market, with pharma up 0.5% and utilities up 0.4% as 10-year gilt yields edged lower.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2% on Monday, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.9% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.8%. All three indices moved below their 50-day moving averages during afternoon trading, the first time since early October for the Dow and since April for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

Nvidia, ahead of highly awaited results due afterhours on Wednesday, fell 1.9% on Monday and weighed heavily on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Home Depot, set to report before the opening bell on Tuesday, fell 1.2% during the session. Tech hardware names were notably weaker: Dell Technologies dropped 8.4% after a downgrade from Morgan Stanley, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise fell 7% following a similar move.

Apple declined 1.8% on Monday after Berkshire Hathaway disclosed another reduction in its holding. Alphabet moved higher, gaining 3.1% after Berkshire revealed a new $4.3 billion stake in the company.

Retail names remained in focus, with Walmart and Target scheduled to report later in the week. Investors also looked toward the delayed US September jobs report, set for release on Thursday following the end of the federal shutdown.

Forex & Commodities

The yen moved higher rising to 154.9 per dollar after touching 155.4 earlier in the session, its weakest level since February. The shift came as expectations for a December Federal Reserve rate cut eased. Japan’s finance minister said he was “alarmed” by recent currency moves, and the government prepared to discuss a new fiscal package that could reach 23 trillion yen. The British pound held steady at $1.316, while the euro moved up slightly to $1.160. The Australian and New Zealand dollars edged lower after comments from the Reserve Bank of Australia suggested its current cash rate may no longer be restrictive.

Spot gold moved lower for a fourth straight day early on Tuesday, trading at $4011 per ounce, with the dollar index steady at 99.45 after a sharp rise on Monday. Analysts highlighted reduced speculative positions in gold over the past week. Investors also noted comments from Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, who said the central bank should move slowly with further rate cuts.

Oil prices edged lower early on Tuesday, with Brent at $63.64 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $59.37, after loadings resumed at Russia’s Novorossiysk port following a two-day halt caused by Ukrainian strikes. Traders noted that markets continued to assess the impact of Western sanctions on Russian exports, with the US Treasury saying measures imposed in October were tightening revenues. Banks pointed out that Russian crude has begun trading at a marked discount to global benchmarks.