Gucci and Volvo Cars get hammered as oil and AI worries rattle markets

Shares in parent company Kering fell more than 16 per cent on October 23, 2026 after the French luxury group published results that failed to reassure investors about a turnaround at Gucci. — Pexels pic

First Published: Saturday, 24 Oct 2026 9:36 AM MYT

NEW YORK, Oct 24 — Oil prices rose to their highest levels since late April on Friday, with benchmark crude contract Brent North Sea climbing above US$116 (RM474) a barrel as the Middle East conflict raged on.

Global markets were contending “with concerns around surging oil prices and the sustainability of AI spending,” noted AJ Bell’s head of financial analysis Danni Hewson.

“Escalating tensions in Ukraine and the prospect of increased energy demand as the northern hemisphere heads into the winter months are only adding to the upwards pressure on oil and gas prices,” Hewson added.

The benchmark international oil contract, Brent crude for December, rose more than 3 per cent to US$116.72 (RM476.63) per barrel.

The benchmark US contract, West Texas Intermediate, jumped 3.8 per cent to US$103.27 (RM421.70) a barrel.

Wall Street’s main indices spent most of the day in negative territory. The Dow finished down 1.2 per cent, more than the 0.2 per cent retreat in the Nasdaq, reversing its trend in recent sessions.

“Today everyone appears to be rotating back into the stuff they rotated out of yesterday,” Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading and investing platform IG.

“No one wants to be caught holding risk over the weekend,” he added.

European stock markets mostly dropped following some poorly-received earnings from Gucci parent Kering and Swedish group Volvo Cars.

Asian equity indices closed out the week mixed as technology companies managed to claw back some of the week’s hefty losses.

Rising energy prices have influenced movements across stock markets in recent days along with developments in the AI sector as investors have become more leery of massively expensive capital spending outlays for data centres.

“People are now looking at the cap ex as a liability and that’s different from six months ago,” said Joseph Zidle, chief market strategist at Cresset Capital.

Gucci, Volvo

Kering shed more than 16 per cent on Friday after the French luxury group published results that failed to reassure investors about a turnaround at its key Gucci brand.

Volvo Cars meanwhile plunged more than 24 per cent after it said US tariffs and strong competition from local brands in China pushed it into a third-quarter loss.

In response, the company announced a new five-billion-kronor (RM2.1 billion) savings plan it said would lead to about 2,000 job cuts in Sweden and 500 more globally.

Aside from energy markets, AI and earnings next week, focus will fall firmly on interest-rate meetings for the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, as well as an update on US economic growth data. — AFP

Key figures at around 2010 GMT 

• Brent North Sea crude: UP 3.1 per cent at US$116.72 per barrel
• West Texas Intermediate: UP 3.8 per cent at US$103.27 per barrel
• New York — Dow: DOWN 1.2 per cent at 52,215.16 (close)
• New York — S&P 500: DOWN 0.5 per cent at 7,623.68 (close)
• New York — Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.2 per cent at 25,955.34 (close)
• London — FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 per cent at 10,690.36
• Paris — CAC 40: DOWN 0.4 per cent at 7,782.82
• Frankfurt — DAX: DOWN 0.8 per cent at 25,181.65
• Tokyo — Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 per cent at 62,693.16 (close)
• Hong Kong — Hang Seng Index: UP 0.7 per cent at 23,093.37 (close)
• Shanghai — Composite: UP 0.9 per cent at 3,690.48 (close)
• Euro/dollar: DOWN at US$1.1194 from US$1.1216 on Thursday
• Pound/dollar: DOWN at US$1.3372 from US$1.3401 
• Dollar/yen: UP at 156.87 yen from 156.77 yen
• Euro/pound: UP at 83.71 pence from 83.69 pence