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Article | 04 March 2024 | Investments
5.3%S&P 500 |
5.0%EURO STOXX 50 |
0.5%FTSE 100 |
3.5%CAC 40 |
4.6%DAX 30 |
0.0%BEL 20 |
6.0%FTSE MIB |
-0.7%IBEX 35 |
4.9%TOPIX |
| Source: FactSet 29.02.2024 |
Donald Trump trounced his rival for the Republican presidential nomination at the South Carolina primary. With ‘Super Tuesday’ bringing another dozen primaries in early March, commentators are outlining the likely shape of a Trump second term. Global trade is an early target, with 10% tariffs promised on all trading partners, rising to 60% on imports from China. As for the US economy, the renewal of Trump’s previous tax cuts is forecast. The repeal of the IRA green stimulus package is feared. And Jerome Powell’s position as chair of the US Federal Reserve could be under threat, after past clashes over interest rate policy.
It’s the term economists use for two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Although mild, a number of major economies, including Japan, Germany and the UK, currently find themselves in technical recession. This hasn’t held back Japan’s Nikkei index or the Eurostoxx 600, which have broken through historical peaks. Meanwhile the US economy continues to power ahead, causing markets to scale back bets on interest rate cuts for this year. This troubled US bond markets, but not the equity markets. Boosted by impressive tech sector results, the S&P 500 index also hit an all time high.
Jensen Huang, CEO of advanced semiconductor designer Nvidia, claimed that accelerated computing and generative AI “have hit the tipping point”, as orders pour in from companies and nations across the world. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and one of Nvidia’s major clients, corroborated this, forecasting that investment of $7 trillion will be required for semiconductors to power AI. That figure matches the entire Japanese and UK economies put together. Founder Jeff Bezos has sold $4 billion of Amazon stock, expected to put the burner under his Blue Origin space project, while a Delaware court invalidated Elon Musk’s $56 billion Tesla compensation package.
