Live Markets: SOX puppets

Novartis AG

28/04/2026 11:02

Adds new blog entry

STOXX 600 up 0.1%

BOJ keeps rates on hold, split vote

Oil prices rise again

Wall Street futures lower

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

SOX PUPPETS

Far away from the Strait of Hormuz, this month has been all about the resurgence of tech and AI plays. Earnings season is in full swing and the bulk of the Magnificent 7 report results over the coming 48 hours. No matter how much the AI trade is behind the push in Wall Street indices to record highs, it's visible everywhere, even in "old economy" Europe. AI plays there are almost exclusively about the hardware and infrastructure side of the equation - ASML ASML.AS, BESI BESI.AS and STMicroelectronics STMPA.PA - spring to mind.

The STOXX tech index .SX8P is up 12% so far this month, with French semiconductor materials maker Soitec SOIT.PA doubling in value. It's a far cry from the Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX, which is up 38% and set for its best month since February 2000, right when the dotcom bubble burst. Other big gainers in April across Europe include UK midcaps Ceres Power CWR.L, which develops clean energy technology, and is up 66%, and single-board computing company Raspberry Pi RPI.L, which is up 35%. Even Nokia NOKIA.HE, the maker of the iconic "brick" mobile phones of the 1990s and early 2000s, is up nearly 40% this month. The company has reinvented itself as an AI player and is now one of the world's top manufacturers of optical transport systems - basically, fibre optic cables for data centres.

AT&S Austria Tech ATSV.VI , which produces integrated circuit (IC) substrates that power data flow in AI processors, among other things, is up nearly 80% this month.

(Amanda Cooper)

*****

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

AN UNEASY LULL CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: NO WAR, NO PEACE CLICK HERE

BOJ'S HAWKISH HOLD CLICK HERE

​

How interest rates have changed among G10 central banks https://www.reuters.com/graphics/AUTOMATED-20260428/G10-INTEREST-RATES-SINCE-MARCH-2024/akveyjdxovr/chart.png

European shares mixed, Switzerland underperforms https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GLOBAL-STOCKS/akveyjddzvr/chart.png

Tech stocks performance Tech stocks performance https://www.reuters.com/graphics/TECH-STOCKS/TECH-STOCKS/jnvwrrgyqpw/Pasted%20image%201777370076934.png