Europe Opens Higher, Asia Rebounds as US Futures Edge Up

European shares opened higher on Friday, October 16, and Asian markets closed up, as calm returned after a week of sharp falls in technology stocks. The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.3 percent to 641.75 points by 07:08 GMT, near its highest level in more than two weeks, Reuters reported. The index was up more than 1 percent for the week and on track for its biggest weekly gain since August.

US futures pointed to a steady open in New York. S and P 500 futures rose 0.21 percent at 4:45 a.m. ET, Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.13 percent and Dow futures rose 0.32 percent. The VIX volatility index fell 2.61 percent to 16.03.

Asia closes higher after the rout

Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 1.39 percent at 65,324.24, and South Korea's Kospi closed up 2.05 percent at 5,668.06. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.34 percent, Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.30 percent and mainland China's SSE Composite edged up 0.15 percent. The gains clawed back part of Thursday's heavy losses, when the Nikkei fell 4.9 percent and the Kospi plunged close to 8 percent as investors dumped chip stocks over worries about the debt behind the AI buildout.

Wall Street set the tone overnight. On Thursday, October 15, the Dow rose 1.08 percent, the S and P 500 gained 0.33 percent and the Nasdaq added 0.08 percent after recovering from a 1.8 percent intraday fall. Indonesia stayed in focus after MSCI said it is consulting on removing the country from emerging market status, a story The Orbit Post covered in full on Thursday.

Europe open: industrials lead, UK banks lag

Germany's DAX rose 0.5 percent at the open. Siemens Energy gained 1.9 percent and defence group Rheinmetall added 2.4 percent. The Dutch AEX rose 0.4 percent as ASML added 1.8 percent, and chip equipment maker Aixtron jumped 4.8 percent after it beat order intake estimates. Italy's FTSE MIB added 0.4 percent and Spain's IBEX 35 gained 0.3 percent. France's CAC 40 slipped 0.1 percent, held back by luxury stocks.

London's FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent, led down by banks. Lloyds fell 2.2 percent and NatWest fell 1.9 percent after the Guardian reported late on Thursday that Finance Minister John Healey is set to raise taxes on banks in his October 28 budget. One option under discussion is reversing the cut to the bank surcharge, which would raise more than 2 billion pounds a year. The UK Treasury declined to comment. Barclays edged 0.2 percent lower.

Schneider raises its targets for a second time

Schneider Electric raised its 2026 targets for the second time this year, as demand from cloud companies building AI data centres kept orders strong. It now expects adjusted core profit to grow 18 to 21 percent organically in 2026, up from 14 to 19 percent, and revenue to grow 12 to 14 percent. Third quarter revenue rose 16.9 percent to 11.46 billion euros, ahead of forecasts. Industrials gained 0.7 percent and were among the top gainers on the STOXX 600. The Orbit Post reports Schneider in full in a separate story.

Warsh gives markets nothing to fear

Treasury yields held steady after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, speaking at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, gave no preview of the Fed's next move and said he does not prejudge meetings. Morningstar reported that markets took the lack of a hawkish tone as good news. Reuters reported that traders now expect the Fed to wait until December for another rate hike, even after two hot inflation reports this week. AI stocks stayed fragile in premarket trade, with CoreWeave down 2.5 percent.

Oil, gold and what comes next

Brent crude slipped about 0.3 percent but held above 105 dollars a barrel, as traders weighed an International Energy Agency plan to speed up the release of about 100 million barrels from stockpiles. WTI crude traded at 95.40 dollars, down 1.14 percent. Gold rose 0.87 percent to 4,206 dollars an ounce. The 10 year Treasury yield sat near 5.09 percent.

Investors in Europe will watch the final eurozone inflation figures for September, due later on Friday. The flash estimate put inflation at 3.8 percent. The European Central Bank decides rates on October 29, one day after the Federal Reserve.