Weak financial results of Alphabet on Wednesday put pressure on US technology stocks. The company’s stock lost about 7.5% – investors reacted negatively to the slowdown in growth of Google’s cloud business and plans to allocate $75 billion for capital expenditures, according to Reuters.
This has heightened concerns about the skyrocketing costs of artificial intelligence. If the decline continues, Alphabet could lose $180 billion in market value, leveling out all of the stock’s gains for the year.
The negative news also affected Amazon, whose shares declined ahead of the release of its financial results.
In Europe, investors’ attention was focused on quarterly reports. Novo Nordisk, the region’s largest company, rose 4.7%, helping the STOXX 600 gain about 0.5% on the day.
China fixed the yuan exchange rate, dispelling fears of a possible devaluation of the currency to offset the impact of trade duties.
The dollar weakened sharply against the yen, which strengthened after data on wage growth in Japan – increasing the likelihood of another rate hike in the country, the portal wrote.
