Facebook leads tech rally as global stocks rebound
- Tech stocks rose amid a general rebound in US equities with Facebook leading the rally.
- Asian markets, except Japan, rose despite the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou and trade war fears weighing over markets.
- In Europe, stocks opened higher Tuesday paring losses from a choppy start to the week.
Global markets gently rebounded after China confirmed it was still in talks with Washington over a trade deal. However, global trade remains at the forefront of investors' attention with uncertainty around Brexit causing some concern.
The pound drops 0.33% to $1,26
The pound dropped to 20-month lows Monday before a slight recovery. Sterling is now up 0.33% at $1.26, as of 8.50 a.m in London (3.50 a.m EST) after British Prime Minister Theresa May delayed a crucial Brexit vote on fears her deal would be defeated in Parliament.
Europe markets up in early trade
In Europe, Brexit may weigh heavily on markets but following weeks of violence in France the country's President Emmanuel Macron finally yielded to the "yellow vest" protests and agreed to increase the country's minimum wage. What originally started as a fuel tax protest has left four people dead and partly contributed to revised growth figures for the country. France's CAC is up 0.7%
Other European markets edged up Tuesday with the Dax paring its Monday losses to rise 0.7% while the Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.6%.
Brent crude failed to maintain Monday's gains and is down 0.4% as the effect of OPEC's supply cut slowly enters the market.
Nikkei down 0.3%
In Asia, Japan's poor economic figures dragged the Nikkei down another 0.3% while the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.4%.
Chinese shares across the board rose after the country's Vice Premier Liu He confirmed talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had taken place about the next stage of trade talks.
India's currency, stocks and bonds fell Monday after the governor of the central bank resigned, casting doubt on the independence of monetary policy in the world's largest democracy. Urjit Patel left the role for personal reasons after disagreements with the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Indian stocks closed up 0.4% Tuesday.
Facebook up 3.2%
Facebook led a rebound in tech stocks and rose 3.2% Monday having lost more than 35% of its share value since the summer. The social media giant isn't out of the woods yet, however, after yet another European country criticised the company. Italy's media watchdog is set to fine Facebook €10 million ($11.4 million) for consumer data malpractice, a continuation of the company's difficulty following the Cambridge Analytica scandal which has dogged them all year.
Apple up 0.7%
Apple rose 0.7% despite its ongoing trade war concerns and a sales block in China. The company had earlier fallen more than 2% after Qualcomm said a Chinese court had ordered the company to stop selling several iPhones in China, citing what it found to be patent violations. Netflix rose 1.7%.