Broadcom Slide Fails to Stop Dow Record Close

Broadcom fell sharply after a small revenue miss, pulling chip stocks lower and leaving the Nasdaq slightly down while the Dow closed at a record high. The FTSE 100 made modest gains as RELX and London Stock Exchange Group rose, offsetting falls for HSBC, Standard Chartered, Prudential, BP and Shell. The dollar held firm as the yen tested 160 per dollar, while Brent crude traded near $95 and gold fell on Friday morning.

Equities

The FTSE 100 closed 0.3% higher on Thursday, while the FTSE 250 gained 0.5%. Strength in technology-related shares helped offset weakness in financial and energy stocks. Shares in RELX closed 6.0% higher and London Stock Exchange Group rose 5.3%, providing significant support for the blue-chip index.

HSBC finished 1.8% lower and Standard Chartered fell 2.8% after reports that tighter offshore account rules in China could affect cross-border investment activity. Prudential closed 7.6% lower, marking its sharpest one-day decline in more than three years. Energy majors Shell and BP both ended more than 1% lower as oil prices dropped following renewed hopes for progress towards a wider Middle East ceasefire agreement.

CMC Markets surged 16.8% after forecasting annual profits above market expectations. S4 Capital fell 4.2% after chairman Martin Sorrell said the company had not made sufficient progress on revenue growth and margin improvement. Economic data also showed UK construction activity contracted at its fastest pace in six years during May.

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.73% higher at a record high of 51,561.93. The S&P 500 added 0.41%, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.09% as weakness in semiconductor shares weighed on technology stocks.

Broadcom closed 12.6% lower after quarterly revenue missed expectations, triggering a wider sell-off across the chip sector. Advanced Micro Devices, Micron Technology and Qualcomm finished between 2.6% and 7.7% lower. Marvell Technology moved against the trend, closing 4.9% higher.

UnitedHealth rose 5.2% after Bank of America upgraded the healthcare group’s shares to a “buy” rating. Financial stocks also recovered after sharp losses in the previous session. Blackstone climbed 7.5% despite becoming the latest asset manager to limit withdrawals from a flagship private credit fund following increased redemption requests.

CrowdStrike closed 3.8% lower after reporting higher quarterly operating expenses. Investor attention also turned to SpaceX, where a roadshow began on Thursday ahead of its planned market debut on 12 June. The company is seeking to raise $75 billion in what would be a record-breaking IPO, valuing the business at approximately $1.75 trillion.

Forex & Commodities

The US dollar was little changed in Asian trading on Friday morning, with the dollar index at 99.41 and on course for a weekly gain. The Japanese yen weakened to 160.0 per dollar for the third straight session, prompting Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama to warn that authorities were ready to respond at any time and could take “decisive action” against excessive currency moves.

Sterling was steady at $1.343 early on Friday, while the euro edged up to $1.162. Both currencies were still heading for small weekly losses against the dollar. The Australian dollar slipped to $0.7128, while the New Zealand dollar was flat at $0.5866 and remained on track for a weekly advance.

Gold fell on Friday morning, with spot gold down 0.6% at $4,446 an ounce and heading for a weekly loss of around 2%. Silver dropped 2% to $72.36 an ounce, platinum fell 1% to $1,880, and palladium slid 1.7% to $1,298, leaving all major precious metals lower for the week.

Oil moved higher early on Friday after sharp falls on Thursday. Brent crude rose to $95.36 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate traded at $93.06. Both benchmarks were set for their first weekly gains in three weeks, with WTI up more than 6%, as Oman’s Mina al Fahal terminal suspended oil loadings after an explosion and Iranian oil exports fell to their lowest level in six years.