Sawt Falasteen - Stock markets waver as investors track company earnings

Analysts say investors have come to terms with the likelihood that the US Federal Reserve will not cut borrowing costs in March as they had hoped.

More Fed officials signalled this week that they were in no hurry to reduce rates, which the central bank hiked to a two-decade high last year in its battle against inflation.

"Knowing that the Fed is done hiking its rates and the expectation that the next move from the Fed will be a rate cut is enough to keep the market in a sweet spot," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote bank.

"A delay in the timing of the first rate cut is even perceived as a good thing: the US economy is doing so well that there is no urge to cut the rates right away," she said.

Traders were keeping an eye on Treasury yields, which can act as a proxy for interest rate expectations. They were slightly up Thursday after easing earlier this week

Markets were also concerned about signs of deflation in China.

But the focus was on another parade of annual and quarterly company results.

Wall Street wavered in early trading, with the broad-based S&P 500 flat as it remained close to the 5,000-point mark.

Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at City Index and Forex.com, said "market sentiment was a bit cagey" on mixed earnings and concerns about China.

Shares in entertainment giant Disney jumped nine percent on Thursday, a day after it reported higher-than-expected quarterly profits and announced it was taking a small stake in Fortnite-maker Epic Games.

Nasdaq-listed chip-maker Arm Holdings soared 44 percent after its earnings report beat expectations.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 and Frankfurt DAX were up in afternoon deals.

Shares in French luxury giant Kering rose five percent despite a drop in annual sales and profit as the company refocuses its business around its top brand Gucci.

London's FTSE 100 index fell as British drugs group AstraZeneca slid also more than six percent on concern over its outlook after posting bumper profits last year.

Shares of British American Tobacco rose seven percent despite reporting a 2023 loss as the company flagged the possible part-sale of its nearly 30-percent stake in Indian peer ITC.

Danish shipping giant Maersk's stock price tanked by 17 percent in Copenhagen after it logged a massive drop in net profit last year and warned that unrest in the Red Sea clouded its 2024 outlook.

Asian equities fluctuated, though Shanghai was again sharply higher heading into the Lunar New Year break following Chinese government moves to prop up the stock market.

China has announced measures and pledges aimed at boosting confidence on trading floors, including share buybacks.

Still, observers warned the moves would not solve the country's deeper economic problems -- particularly in the property sector -- which needed to be addressed to fully restore optimism.

Data showing China's consumer prices fell for a fourth straight month in January -- and at the sharpest pace since 2009 -- highlighted the hard work leaders face in turning the ship around.

- Key figures around 1500 GMT -

New York - Dow: FLAT at 38,689.16 points

New York - S&P 500: FLAT at 4,993.75

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 15,769.12

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,613.56

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.9 percent at 7,677.45

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.5 percent at 16,997.59

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.8 percent at 4,715.78

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.1 percent at 36,863.28 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 15,878.07 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.3 percent at 2,865.90 (close)

Dollar/yen: UP at 149.25 yen from 148.16 yen on Wednesday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0764 from $1.0777

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2606 from $1.2628

Euro/pound: UP at 85.39 pence from 85.32 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.9 percent at $80.69 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.9 percent at $75.28 per barrel

burs-lth

Y.Shaath--SF-PST