Global stocks move higher as investors await Fed rate cut decision

Global stock markets were moving higher on Tuesday as investors await the US’s interest rate decision with bated breath.
Euronext Dublin finished the day up 1.9 per cent to outperform international peers off the back of a strong performance from Ryanair.
The budget airline closed up 6.1 per cent following fresh comments from chief executive Michael O’Leary who said the airline has seen better momentum in bookings since August and less need to discount prices.
The airline was the main driver of what was a strong performance for the travel and leisure sector. In the same sector, Dalata – the biggest hotel operator in the State – climbed 1.2 per cent.
Among the financial names, AIB was up 2.2 per cent on good trading volumes, while Bank of Ireland climbed 1.6 per cent.
Elsewhere, insulation specialist Kingspan, which is one of the biggest hitters left on the market, finished the day up 2 per cent.
Meanwhile, dairy giant Kerry Group gave up some of its recent ground as it sank 1.2 per cent over the course of the day.
The FTSE 100 rose 0.4 per cent to a two-week high, lifted by a rise in retailer and personal goods shares, while investors prepared for central bank meetings through the week.
Meanwhile, the mid-cap FTSE 250 edged up by 0.1 per cent. Both indexes marked their fourth consecutive session of gains.
Kingfisher was the biggest gainer on FTSE 100, adding 11.2 per cent after the home improvement retailer lifted the bottom end of its annual profit outlook, saying that seasonal sales trends have improved since early July.
The broader retailers’ index touched its highest levels since January 2022, up 2.8 per cent.
The personal goods index gained 2.8 per cent, its biggest one-day jump in nearly eight weeks, as sectoral heavyweights Burberry and Watches of Switzerland Group advanced 3.1 per cent each.
On the downside, aerospace and defence stocks led sectoral declines with a 2.2 per cent slip, as report showed some of Ukraine’s allies are starting to talk about how a negotiated end to the conflict could take shape.
Shares of Essentra slumped 15.2 per cent after the plastic and metal components supplier warned that annual operating profit could miss market expectations due to weaker conditions in Europe and slower recovery in the Americas.
Shares of ecommerce firm THG slipped 12.4 per cent after the company said it was actively looking to facilitate the demerger of its technology services arm.
Stocks on the continent also rose as traders looked forward to Wednesday’s likely Federal Reserve rate cut.
Retailers led the advance in Europe’s Stoxx 600, which rose 0.6 per cent, while the MSCI World Index rose 0.4 per cent.
In Paris, the Cac 40 was up 0.51 per cent, while in Frankfurt, the Dax closed 0.52 per cent higher.
Wall Street’s main stock indexes rose, with the S&P 500 hitting an intraday record high in advance of the interest-rate decision, after fresh economic data allayed worries of a sharp slowdown in the US economy.
Microsoft gave one of the biggest boosts to the S&P 500, with a 1 per cent rise on the day after the AI-front-runner’s board approved a new share buyback programme and hiked its quarterly dividend by 10 per cent.
Other rate-sensitive growth stocks such as Alphabet and Tesla added 0.7 per cent and 2.1 per cent, while Nvidia edged up 0.3 per cent, pushing the broader chips index 0.94 per cent higher.
Among other movers, Intel rose 6.2 per cent after signing Amazon’s cloud services unit as a customer to make custom artificial-intelligence chips. Amazon.com gained 1.7 per cent.
The S&P 500 posted 47 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 113 new highs and 47 new lows. – Additional reporting: Agencies