European stocks slip led by France, and oil falls on Trump's Russian
sanctions waiver
[October 19, 2026] By
CHAN HO-HIM
HONG KONG (AP) — Stocks around the world were mixed on Monday as
volatility in technology stocks persisted in Asia, while stocks in
France led losses in Europe following mass protests against the rising
cost of living and poor school conditions.
U.S. equity futures edged higher ahead of another week of American
corporate earnings results.
Oil prices fell around 2% after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision
to waive sweeping sanctions on Russia, including on Russian energy.
In early European trading, France's CAC 40 sank 1.3% to 7,854.31 after
violent protests over the weekend. More than 2,000 people were arrested
nationwide, and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday condemned the
violent demonstrators in a televised address.
Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.8% to 10,795.31, while Germany's DAX dropped
1% to 25,360.14.
In Asia, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index was up 1.8% to 5,768.01 on
Monday, after falling sharply last week. The Kospi is down more than 17%
over the past month, and still well below the 9,000 mark it crossed in
June at its peak on the global AI frenzy.
Samsung Electronics was up 1.2%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix added
0.4%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.6% to 64,916.70. Japanese chip equipment maker
Tokyo Electron fell 2.6%, and OpenAI investor SoftBank Group dropped 2%.
A sell-off of technology shares from Asia to Wall Street recently put
downward pressure on stock markets, as investor concerns grow over the
sustainability of the artificial intelligence boom.
“We’ve been arguing for a while that volatility in tech stocks would
pick up as the AI bubble continued to inflate: sharp and short-lived
sell-offs were common as the ‘dotcom’ bubble inflated, for example, even
as the market ultimately made very large gains on net,” Capital
Economics Head of Markets for Asia Pacific Thomas Mathews wrote in a
commentary Monday.
Hong Kong’s stock market was closed because of a holiday. The Shanghai
Composite index edged 0.4% higher to 3,730.92, after China reported
better-than-expected growth of 4.5% for its economy in the
July-September quarter.
CXMT, China’s leading memory chipmaker, fell more than 7% despite the
company forecasting a strong profit for the first nine months.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.4% higher at 8,845.70.
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.6%. India’s Sensex slipped 1.2%.
Indonesia’s benchmark stock index fell over 5% at its peak, to its
lowest level since 2020, after it plunged over 11% on Friday following a
warning from index provider MSCI that it would downgrade the country
from its “emerging market” status.
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A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea
Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing
room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday,
Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
 On Friday, Wall Street’s benchmark
S&P 500 declined 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%,
and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite sank 2.1%.
Investors this week are watching for more big corporate earnings
results from the U.S., including Meta, Netflix, General Motors,
Tesla and IBM. Strong company earnings have been one factor that’s
been keeping U.S. stocks robust lately.
As technology shares face rising uncertainties, experts say
government bonds might stand to benefit as investors look for
relatively safe assets, though the bond market had also been
turbulent over the past few weeks.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury eased to around 5.08% early
Monday, compared with roughly 5.13% Friday. It had hit 5.35% earlier
this month at its highest level since 2002, as inflation worries
from the Iran war-driven energy shock and growing U.S. government
debt pushed yields higher — investors demanded more in return
because of the additional risks.
Oil prices were down early Monday, with Brent crude, the
international standard, falling 2.1% to $107.55 per barrel.
Benchmark U.S. crude dropped 1.9% to $97.19 per barrel.
Oil fell after Trump late Friday signed an executive order to put
new broad U.S. sanctions against Russia on hold just days before
they were to come into effect, drawing disappointment from Ukraine,
with the move likely resulting in more energy exports from Russia.
Trump's decision came not long after he said earlier this month he
had reached a diesel deal with Russia in an attempt to bring down
elevated U.S. fuel prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
But even with the decline, oil prices have remained elevated
compared with those seen before the Iran war. Global oil supply
risks are still high amid tensions in the Middle East, including
uncertainty surrounding oil transport in the Strait of Hormuz,
adding upward pressure to prices.
The U.S. dollar rose to 158.19 Japanese yen from 158.10 yen. The
euro was trading at $1.1213, down from $1.1234.
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