© Reuters.
Investing.com – Global equities are looking for direction as Wall Street will remain closed on Tuesday for the July 4th holiday. Meanwhile, Meta is preparing to release later this week a platform that can compete with Twitter to lure users unhappy with Elon Musk’s management of the social media site. Elsewhere, China unveils export controls on two key minerals, marking the latest development in an ongoing war over microchips between Beijing and the West.
1. Global equities are behaving on the US holiday and weak data calendar
European and Asian stock markets fluctuated broadly around the zero line on Tuesday as investors looked for clues in a weak data calendar and a US bank holiday.
As of 05:07 ET (09:07 GMT), Germany was down 6 points or 0.04%, France was up 3 points or 0.05% and the pan-European reading was up 1 point or 0.23% to. In the UK, the figure rose slightly by 8 points, or 0.11%.
Subdued trading in the region came as Asian equities traded in a stable to low range and a series of weak data from major economies dampened risk appetite. Japanese stocks in particular fell from their 33-year high in a sign that the country’s recent stock rally may be faltering.
Elsewhere, China and China posted slight gains, while South Korea fell 0.35%.
Meanwhile, Wall Street markets will remain closed today for the Independence Day holiday.
2. Meta’s Twitter rival
According to a listing in the Apple App Store, Facebook owner Meta (NASDAQ:) will unveil his response to Twitter later this week, increasing the pressure on Elon Musk’s social media company to retain users angry at the billionaire’s administration are the business.
Meta’s new service, Threads, will launch on Thursday. The “text-based conversation” app, which will link directly to Meta’s hugely popular photo-sharing platform, Instagram, claims it will be a place “where communities come together to discuss anything from the topics that matter to you what you care about today, to what you will do today.” be trending tomorrow.
Posting threads could prove to be another challenge for Twitter. In response to the controversial decisions of Musk, who bought the company for $44 billion in October, users have already started looking for alternatives to the platform.
Most recently, Musk announced that it would be capping the number of posts that can be viewed, saying it was necessary in part to “counter the extreme levels of data scraping.” The decision drew widespread criticism from users, with many paying monthly fees to gain exposure to the site.
3. China is curbing exports of semiconductor metals
China has restricted access to exports of two key minerals used in making computer chips. This is the latest salvo in the semiconductor war between Beijing and the West.
According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, the minerals gallium and germanium will be subject to unspecified export controls starting next month. The US has said the metals are critical to the manufacture of microchips, military equipment and communications.
In a statement, the Chinese ministry said the measure will help protect “national security and interests.”
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the US is also preparing to introduce restrictions on Chinese companies’ access to cloud computing services, including those from Amazon (NASDAQ:) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:).
4. Supply shortages drive up oil
Oil prices rose on Tuesday as traders weighed increasing supply cuts by key exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia against signs of a slowdown in global economic activity.
As of 05:10 ET, futures were trading 0.70% higher at $70.49 a barrel, while the contract was up 0.74% to $75.39 a barrel.
Saudi Arabia said Monday it will extend its recently announced cuts by 1 million barrels a day through August and possibly beyond, while Russia also announced it will cut its oil exports by 500,000 bpd.
However, with US markets on vacation, gains should be limited.
5. The RBA keeps interest rates stable
The central bank on Tuesday decided to keep interest rates at an 11-year high of 4.10% as it tries to gauge the impact on the broader economy of 400 basis points of hikes since last May.
However, Australia’s central bank warned that more tightening may still be needed to contain the elevated price hike. According to official data, inflation rose 5.6% yoy in May, but slower than the recent peak of 8.4% in December.
“Inflation is still too high and will remain so for some time,” warned RBA Gov. Philip Lowe in a statement.
The RBA is one of a number of central banks that have launched a campaign of aggressive increases in the cost of borrowing recently; The trend that has been a key driver of trading sentiment throughout 2023.
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