At the time of writing, all three major indices were falling,$Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$down 0.37%$S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$down 0.26%$Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$down 0.2%.

As concerns deepen over political turmoil in France, European stock markets are experiencing their worst week in months, with the US market under pressure and investors searching for safe haven assets.

Mohit Kumar, Chief European Economist at Jefferies International, said, 'This is a flight-to-safety tone that's driving the market on concerns French. Investors are cutting some positions especially as we head into the weekend.'

Adam Crisafulli, an analyst at Vital Knowledge, says US stocks are facing pressure from global issues, including concerns over the French political situation and the Bank of Japan's announcement that it will slow down the pace of quantitative easing.

Crisafulli said, 'Overall, global monetary policy is easing, but the process isn't happening quickly enough to offset the profit headwinds associated with a moderating environment for nominal GDP growth.'

As French President Emmanuel Macron announced early legislative elections, the market became increasingly anxious after his party suffered a crushing defeat in the European parliamentary elections. Investors fear that a victory by Marine Le Pen's far-right party National Assembly would lead to more relaxed fiscal policies and the party is far ahead in the polls.

At the other end of the political spectrum, an alliance of French left-wing policies has issued a manifesto attacking President Macron's economic reforms.

This uncertainty has led to a soaring French debt premium compared to Germany, reaching its highest level since 2011, and a maximum decline in the yield of two-year German bonds since December last year.

'It's hard for us to ignore the similarities between the current situation and the sovereign debt crisis, where people had similar concerns about election results, sovereign spreads and debt sustainability,' said Jim Reid, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. 'And there are no obvious signs of where things will go next.'

Beata Manthee, head of European stock strategies at Citigroup, told the media, 'French elections are often more volatile for the stock market than elections in other developed markets. This volatility may continue for a while. Nevertheless, the current weakness does not change the fundamental strength of European corporate earnings and the overall economy.'

US stocks closed mixed on Thursday, with the S&P 500 index setting a new closing high for the fourth consecutive trading day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index also hit a new high.

The May PPI wholesale inflation rate in the US unexpectedly fell by 0.2% compared to the previous month, while surveyed economists expected the index to grow by 0.1%. Prior to this, the monthly CPI for May released on Wednesday was flat. Both sets of data indicate that inflation pressures in the US are easing.

JPMorgan's asset management division predicts that the strong start of the US stock market in 2024 will continue into the second half of the year.

David Kelly, the bank's chief global strategist, and his team said in a mid-year outlook report that while the S&P 500 index has delivered double-digit returns since January, market growth may be more steady than vigorous, but US stocks will continue to be boosted in the coming months thanks to a solid profit foundation, the end of the Federal Reserve's monetary tightening policy and a strong economy.

Due to expectations that Fed policymakers are not in a hurry to ease monetary policy, US money market fund assets have reached record levels.

Barbara Doran, CEO of BD8 Capital Partners, said,'I think the US economy is going to have a soft landing, but I think people are beginning to, or have begun to feel uneasy if the Fed keeps a restrictive policy in place for too long.'

'At first glance, US stocks look expensive - with a P/E ratio of 21 times the S&P 500 index. But as we know, that's just a few stocks that are expensive, and if you remove them from the S&P 500, US stocks will be much cheaper. The problem now is breadth,' referring to the number of stocks that are rising versus the number of stocks that are falling.

Investors continue to focus on US stock earnings reports. Software giant Adobe's stock price surged as the company announced better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its full-year performance guidance. However, unlike the company, its peers in the software field believe that macroeconomic trends are unfavorable.

Focus stocks

Star tech stocks fluctuated. Adobe rose more than 15%, Netflix rose more than 1%, Tesla and Apple rose slightly, while Nvidia and Microsoft fell slightly.

Most popular China concept stocks fell, with Bilibili, Li Auto, and Alibaba falling more than 2%, and PDD Holdings falling nearly 2%.

$Tesla (TSLA.US)$Rising slightly, opening up nearly 2%. At Tesla's 2024 shareholders' meeting, shareholders voted to approve Musk's compensation plan and agreed to relocate the company's registration to Texas.

$Adobe (ADBE.US)$Rose nearly 15%, with second-quarter revenue hitting a new high and full-year performance guidance raised.

$Arm Holdings (ARM.US)$Rose nearly 2%, the company will be included in the Nasdaq 100 Index starting from June 24.

$GameStop (GME.US)$Rose nearly 5%. The company's online annual shareholders' meeting was "crowded out" and forced to be postponed, and "Meowing Cat" shareholders increased to about 9 million shares.

Editor / jayden