Netflix shed fewer subscribers than expected.
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- Global stocks rose on Wednesday after Netflix posted better-than-expected earnings and global energy fears cooled.
- Investors were in a more upbeat mood after the S&P 500 shot up almost 3% on Tuesday as earnings season ramped up.
- Reports said Russia would restart natural gas flows to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, easing some worries.
Global stocks rose on Wednesday after Netflix earnings came in better than expected and as fears about a global energy crisis cooled.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.16% shortly after 5 a.m. ET, while Dow Jones futures were 0.12% higher and Nasdaq 100 futures had risen 0.26%.
Europe’s Stoxx 600 index ticked 0.35% higher as investors awaited the latest interest rate decision from the European Central Bank, which is due Thursday.
The ECB said last month that it intends to hike rates by 25 basis points. However, the governing council is now also considering a 50-basis point hike, according to media reports, as it tries to tamp down the strongest inflation since the eurozone was founded in the late 1990s.
Asian stocks rallied overnight, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 charging 2.67% higher and China’s CSI 300 climbing 0.34%.
Global stocks have suffered a brutal sell-off in 2022 as central banks have hiked interest rates — making borrowing more expensive — as they grapple with a near-worldwide surge in inflation.
But the mood has improved somewhat in recent days as investors have started to see more positives in the global economy after months of gloom. The S&P 500 jumped 2.76% Tuesday.
Netflix cheered investors on Tuesday when it revealed it had lost far fewer subscribers than expected in the second quarter of the year, shedding 970,000 compared to expectations of around 2 million. Shares in the streaming company were up around 7% in premarket trading.
A recent slide in energy prices has also raised hopes that inflation could soon be on its way down. That’s despite the fact the falls have been driven by expectations that economies, and therefore demand for raw materials, are set to slow sharply.
Reports that Russia will restart the flow of natural gas to Europe this week through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is currently closed for maintenance, have also eased fears of a brutal energy crunch on the continent.
However, price pressures showed little sign of abating in the UK, where inflation came in at a a fresh 40-year high of 9.4% in June, according to data released on Wednesday.
“Despite Tuesday’s more positive trading session, we don’t expect a sustained improvement in market sentiment until investors get greater clarity on the outlook for the economy, central bank policy, and political risks,” said Mark Haefele, wealth management chief investment officer at UBS. “Uncertainty in all of these areas remains elevated, in our view.”
Here are how other key assets performed:
- Brent crude oil was down 1.25% to $106.01 a barrel, while WTI crude was down 1.05% to $103.13.
- The yield on the key 10-year US Treasury note fell 3.8 basis points to 2.984%. Yields move inversely to prices.
- The US dollar index was down 0.12% at 106.55.
- Bitcoin was 1% higher at $23,520.
