Asia Markets
European Stocks Close Mixed in Tuesday Trading; Eurozone Business Activity Contracts for Third Straight Month
The European stock markets closed mixed in Tuesday trading as the Stoxx Europe declined 0.5%, Germany's DAX dropped 0.7%, the FTSE 100 gained 0.2%, France's CAC fell 0.3%, and the Swiss Market Index rose 0.4%.Eurozone business activity remained in contraction territory for the third straight month as the seasonally adjusted S&P Global Flash Eurozone Composite PMI Output Index was 49.5 in June, up from 48.5 in May but remained below the 50.0 no-change mark."The eurozone economy is showing enough resilience to just about stay out of recession," Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a statement. "The flash PMI registered only a slight drop in business activity in June."Britain is considering rules that would require social media platforms, including Meta's Facebook, Alphabet's YouTube, and TikTok, to make content from trusted news providers more visible in users' feeds and search results, Reuters reported Sunday.The government said increasing the visibility of regulated news organizations such as the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 could help combat online misinformation, according to Reuters.And in corporate news, BHP and labor unions have yet to strike an agreement over wages and working conditions, but industrial action is not expected until their next bargaining meeting on July 7, Nikkei Asia reported Tuesday.The Electrical Trades Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, and the Western Mine Workers Alliance held talks with the company on Tuesday, according to the report.BHP and the unions did not immediately respond to' requests for comment.Shares of the mining company fell close to 4% in London.UBS and Nethermind have completed two joint proofs of concept showing the public Ethereum network can satisfy regulated financial institutions' operational and compliance needs, the companies said Tuesday.The tests demonstrated that banks could run its own compliance controls through their existing infrastructure on top of Ethereum without altering how the network itself operates, they said.Shares of the Swiss bank dropped close to 1% in Zurich.Barclays is exploring a return to the cash equities sector in Japan, roughly ten years after departing the market, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.The talks are in their initial phases, and a definitive conclusion has not been reached, the news outlet quoted the people as saying.Barclays did not immediately respond to' request for comment.Shares of the British lender were off 0.4% in London.BP, Marathon Petroleum, and Walmart were sued, among others, by California drivers for allegedly using artificial intelligence to inflate fuel prices, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing a proposed class action lawsuit.The lawsuit claims the gas station operators violated state antitrust and algorithmic price-fixing laws by using a software tool from Kalibrate to coordinate the higher pricing, Reuters said.BP, Marathon Petroleum, Walmart, and Kalibrate did not immediately respond to' requests for comment.Shares of the British oil and gas major were 0.2% lower in London.
