NEW YORK - Stock markets wavered on Wednesday, with tech shares falling and investors digesting President Joe Biden's calls for tax hikes and the latest interest rate signals from US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.
In his annual State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Biden urged unity and touted a blue-collar economic resurgence, with proposals including a new minimum tax on billionaires.
Traders also tracked remarks from Powell, who reiterated Tuesday that inflation was coming down -- but conceded interest rates might need to go higher than expected to get it under control.
Wall Street's three major indices were down at midday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 1.4 percent.
Shares of Google's parent company Alphabet sank eight percent after the company presented some of the features of its Bard chatbot amid a battle over Artificial Intelligence with Microsoft.
Shares of video game-maker Activision Blizzard also fell after UK regulators said Microsoft's $69 billion takeover bid could harm competition and consumer choice.
European markets were given a boost by bumper annual profits at French energy major TotalEnergies and Norwegian peer Equinor, mirroring UK rivals BP and Shell.
But the Paris CAC 40 index fell at the end of the day following disappointing earnings for banking giant Societe Generale while the Frankfurt DAX finished higher. London's FTSE 100 hit a record 7,934.30 points earlier in the day but later pared down some of the gains.
In Asia, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai closed lower.
The energy sector has reaped gigantic earnings as a result of soaring oil and gas prices following key energy producer Russia's war on Ukraine.
Oil prices rose slightly on Wednesday on fresh bets of rebounding Chinese demand as the superpower emerges from almost three years of tough zero-Covid restrictions.
Biden said the massive oil profits were "outrageous" as he called for the tax on corporate stock buybacks to be quadrupled.
'Soothing message'
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said Powell "had just the soothing message the market was looking for".
A run of key US data in recent months has indicated a series of bumper hikes last year was beginning to pay off, fuelling hopes that the Fed could pause its tightening cycle and even lower borrowing costs at the end of the year.
But a forecast-busting jobs report on Friday -- showing half a million new jobs created in January -- stoked speculation that more increases were on the way.
"Concerns that last Friday's bumper jobs report would see the Fed react to what it perceived as an overheating labour market were eased, with Powell's relatively relaxed response possibly reflecting the seasonal anomalies which often affect the January numbers," added Mould.
"Whether Powell will remain so relaxed if the next set of payroll figures are similarly elevated is open to question," he said.
Powell's remarks were also similar to what he said last Wednesday, after the bank's latest policy meeting, which sparked an equities rally.
Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at City Index and Forex.com, said Powell's speech was "deemed neutral overall".
"Powell acknowledged that the disinflationary process is underway, but also suggested that interest rates may have to be pushed even higher if jobs data continues to show upside surprises," Razaqzada said.
Key figures around 1640 GMT
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 33,940.88 points
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 7,885.17 (closed)
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.6 percent at 15,412.05 (closed)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,119.83 (closed)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.2 percent at 4,209.15 (closed
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 27,606.46 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.1 percent at 21,283.52 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,232.11 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0728 from $1.0726 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2073 from $1.2048
Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.84 pence from 89.04 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 131.34 yen from 131.07 yen
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.3 percent at $83.93 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $77.44 per barrel
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