World stocks fall as investors are underwhelmed by Big Tech earnings

New York: World stocks fell Wednesday as the earnings reporting season ramped up for big companies, with investors showing a lack of enthusiasm for results so far. Germany’s DAX lost 1.1 per cent to 18,363.59 while the CAC 40 in Paris was down 1.6 per cent to 7,475.17. In London, the FTSE 100 declined 0.5 per cent to 8,126.38. Shares of luxury giant LVMH sank 5 per cent in early trading as the company Tuesday reported quarterly sales that missed market expectations.

The future for the S&P 500 slipped 0.8 per cent and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5 per cent.

In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 1.1 per cent to 39,154.85, with the Japanese yen trading at its highest level in weeks ahead of a Bank of Japan policy decision next week. The US dollar was trading over 162 yen earlier this month but the Japanese currency has strengthened in recent days after officials intervened to staunch the yen’s decline. Expectations that the BOJ may raise its near-zero interest rate, and that the Federal Reserve may in turn cut rates, have helped support the yen, which has languished as the gap between US rates and those in Japan widened.