Europe open: Stoxx rides Wall St wave; Orsted jumps on US court ruling

(Sharecast News) - European shares made a strong start to trading on Tuesday, boosted by fresh records on Wall Street overnight after chip giant Nvidia said it would invest up to $100bn in ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was up 0.3% to 555 at 0830 BST. Germany's DAX rose 0.51% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.64%.

"The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched fresh record highs, but the rally remains strikingly narrow. Fewer than one in 10 stocks are hitting 12-month highs, underscoring a market increasingly dominated by its largest names," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman.

"This concentration reflects a broader disconnect as equity indices are soaring even as the real economy shows signs of strain, with sticky inflation, a cooling labour market, and uncertainty over the timing of rate cuts. For now, optimism around AI-driven growth and record levels of investment is keeping momentum alive, but the balancing act is precarious."

"Nvidia and OpenAI just dropped a bombshell on the AI landscape. This makes Nvidia's recent $5bn investment in Intel look like pocket change. For Nvidia, the prize is huge - every gigawatt of AI data centre capacity is worth about $50bn in revenue, meaning this project could be worth as much as $500bn.

In equity news, Kingfisher shares surged after the DIY retailer lifted its full-year profit guidance, despite weaker consumer sentiment, following strong interim trading.

Orsted shares were also in demand after a US judge ruled the Danish renewable energy firm could resume construction of an offshore wind farm that was halted by the Trump administration.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com