Alphabet Slump Drags Wall Street Lower While European Stocks Rise
US stock indices fell on Thursday as shares of technology company Alphabet dropped more than 12%. European markets gained after the ECB decided to keep interest rates unchanged.
US stock markets ended Thursday lower, while European indices rose. Wall Street was weighed down by a fall of more than 12% in the shares of technology group Alphabet, which cut the company's market value by about 480 billion US dollars.
US markets
The Alphabet decline affected all three main US indices. The Nasdaq Composite fell the most, by 1.4% to 26,184.73 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3% to 52,342.56 points, and the Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 0.3% to 7,720.39 points.
Europe
European share prices rose after the European Central Bank (ECB), which sets monetary policy for the euro area, decided on Thursday to leave interest rates unchanged. London's FTSE 100 gained 0.3% to 10,722.07 points, Paris's CAC 40 rose 1.1% to 7,970.00 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 30 climbed 1.3% to 26,039.68 points.
The euro initially weakened after ECB President Christine Lagarde said she would leave her post in February 2027, but it recovered later following her press conference.
Energy and currencies
Oil prices declined. In Ne York, WTI crude fell 0.8% to 102.00 dollars per barrel, while Brent crude in London slipped 0.4% to 114.88 dollars per barrel. On the Dutch Title Transfer Facility exchange, natural gas fell 2.1% to 98.59 euros per megawatt-hour.
The euro rose against the US dollar from 1.1154 to 1.1164 dollars. The British pound climbed against the dollar from 1.3327 to 1.3365, and the dollar strengthened against the Japanese yen from 157.84 to 157.92 yen. The euro edged down against the pound, from 83.69 to 83.54 pence.
