Stock market today: World stocks fall as investors are underwhelmed by Big Tech earnings

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% to 18,363.59 while the CAC 40 in Paris was down 1.6% to 7,475.17. In London, the FTSE 100 declined 0.5% to 8,126.38.

Shares of luxury giant LVMH sank 5% in early trading as the company Tuesday reported quarterly sales that missed market expectations.

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

In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 1.1% 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 U.S. 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 U.S. rates and those in Japan widened.

A stronger yen hurts earnings of major exporters when they are brought home and also makes Japanese products less competitive in overseas markets.

Early Wednesday, the dollar was trading at 154.84 yen, down from 155.59 yen late Tuesday.

A business survey released on Wednesday showed Japan’s factory activity contracted in July, as weak demand weighed on the manufacturing sector. Services were on the rise, helping to drive growth in overall activity in Japan’s private sector.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.9% to 17,311.05, led by the Hang Seng Tech Index which sank 1.5%. The Shanghai Composite shed 0.5% to 2,901.95.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower to 7,963.70 after its services sector saw weaker growth in July. Manufacturing improved slightly but remained in contractionary territory.

South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.6% to 2,758.71, as heavyweight Samsung Electronics plunged 2.3% after talks between the company and its largest workers’ union ended with no agreement. Earlier this month, the workers declared an indefinite strike to pressure the company to accept their calls for higher pay and other benefits.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% lower and the Nasdaq composite dipped 0.1%.

But the smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 continued their big run and rose 1%. They’ve zoomed higher amid hopes for coming cuts to interest rates.

The mixed trading came as dozens of companies reported their results for the spring, with the headliners of Alphabet and Tesla coming after trading closed for the day. Expectations are high, and analysts are forecasting the strongest profit growth for S&P 500 companies broadly since late 2021, according to FactSet.

However, investors appeared unimpressed so far.

“The first view on Big Tech earnings wasn’t inspiring,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, an analyst with Swissquote Bank, said in a commentary.

Electric vehicle maker Tesla’s second-quarter net income fell 45% compared with a year ago as the company’s global electric vehicle sales tumbled despite price cuts and low-interest financing. Its shares were down 7.8% in pre-market trading early Wednesday.

Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, delivered another quarter of steady growth amid an AI-driven shift in the ubiquitous search engine that is the foundation of its internet empire. But its YouTube ad revenues were not up to expectations. Its shares fell 3.4% in pre-market trading

With inflation slowing, the wide expectation is for the Federal Reserve to begin lowering its main interest rate in September. That would offer some relief for both the economy and financial markets after the Fed has held the federal funds rate at the highest level in more than two decades.

In other dealings, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 60 cents to $77.56 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, gained 44 cents to $81.45 per barrel.

The euro fell to $1.0835 from $1.0851.