Wall Street rises as materials and crypto stocks offset continued bond sell-off
Investing.com-- European defense stocks fell sharply on Friday while construction names rallied, after comments from a senior Ukrainian official raised hopes that the war with Russia could move closer to a resolution, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
Shares in major defense contractors came under pressure, with CSG Nv (AS:CSG) and Rheinmetall down around 9.7% and 5.7%, respectively, while Leonardo dropped roughly 5%. Hensoldt and BAE Systems fell 2.7%, respectively.
At the same time, European construction and materials stocks moved higher. Buzzi, Holcim and Heidelberg Materials gained between 4.3% and 4.8%, as investors bet that any progress toward peace could support rebuilding efforts and infrastructure demand across the region.
The moves followed comments from Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s top negotiator with Russia, who signaled growing optimism around the direction of talks with Moscow, Bloomberg News reported.
Despite limited visible progress in public negotiations so far, Budanov said discussions are moving toward a potential settlement and suggested the timeline for a deal may be shorter than expected.
Bloomberg quoted Budanov as saying: “They all understand the war needs to end. That’s why they are negotiating. I don’t think it will be long."
Budanov also indicated that Russia may be increasingly aligned with ending the conflict, which remains Europe’s deadliest since World War II.
However, analysts at Vital Knowledge cast some doubt over an imminent breakthrough in the more than four year old Russia-Ukraine war, noting that Budanov "doesn’t seem to be revealing any new developments in negotiations but simply observing that Russia can’t continue fighting at the current pace in perpetuity."
They added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was "much more skeptical" in comments earlier this week, while separate media reports have suggested that a deal does not seem likely because Ukraine "continues to perform very well on the battlefield."
(Scott Kanowsky contributed reporting.)
