NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – On Wall Street, the mood among investors on Thursday was marked by nervousness. The focus was on disappointing Walmart numbers, price losses in tech stocks and the ongoing discussion about a return of inflation. The recently record-high New York indices were all able to reduce their minus significantly.
The Dow Jones Industrial was 0.38 percent lower at 31,493.34 points from trading. The market-wide S&P 500 fell in the end by 0.44 percent to 3913.97 points. The technology-heavy selection index Nasdaq 100 had even lost 1.6 percent at times, and in the end its discount was 0.45 percent to 13,637.51 points.
A sharp increase in the amount of money, the stimulus package planned by US President Joe Biden and the rising commodity prices are some of the ingredients for an “explosive inflation cocktail”, as the experts at the Metzler bank wrote on Thursday. The bond market, which was influenced by this, stabilized over the course of the day, as did US equities. The ten-year US bonds recently returned less than 1.30 percent.
At times, investors’ concerns about inflation weighed heavily on technology companies, which will generate a large part of their cash inflows in the future and are thus viewed by stock marketers as particularly vulnerable to inflation. Apple shares, which were already very weak the day before, had slipped again by up to 2.6 percent under these circumstances, but reduced their minus with the market to 0.9 percent.
Against the background of interest rate concerns, investors also looked to fresh US economic data. The prices for goods imported into the USA rose faster than expected at the beginning of the year, which did not exactly alleviate inflation worries. Other data were mixed: The number of initial jobless claims rose surprisingly last week, but the business climate in the Philadelphia area deteriorated less than expected in February.
By far the biggest loser in the Dow was Walmart’s shares, which plummeted 6.5 percent. Booming online sales made business buzz at the largest US retailer during the pandemic, but high costs and expenses ruined his balance sheet. For 2021, Walmart issued a cautious business outlook, which, in addition to the quarterly loss, was not well received by investors.
The mood was also bad among the shareholders of Boeing, the shares plummeted as the second largest Dow loser by 3.3 percent. Here the specifications from Europe were gloomy, with significant price losses also at Airbus. The corona crisis and the planned job cuts have caused the European competitor to lose billions.
Otherwise, the oil values suffered heavy losses after the last good run. Your industry index S&P 500 Energy had reached the previous day thanks to the recent rise in oil prices at its highest level in half a year, now the industry papers rowed back. ExxonMobil lost 1.6 percent and Occidental Petroleum even 5.4 percent.
For example, winners came from the consumer goods sector, which investors usually see as defensive investment opportunities in troubled times on the stock market. In the Dow, the stocks of Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and McDonald’s were among the leaders, with gains of between 0.8 and 1.3 percent.
In the S&P 500, the shares of the ketchup company Kraft Heinz, which had risen sharply the day before, attracted attention with an ongoing rally. Thanks to a price jump of 5.2 percent, the shares consolidated their highest level in two years. According to experts, there were follow-up purchases here after the shares broke an important technical mark on Wednesday.
The euro recovered somewhat from the losses of the two previous days. The last time it was paid in New York was $ 1.2092. The European Central Bank (ECB) set the reference rate at 1.2084 (Wednesday: 1.2060) dollars. The dollar cost 0.8275 euros.
US bonds showed a stabilized trend. The inflation worries let them sink again at first, but then they almost made up their minus again. Most recently, the futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) fell 0.07 percent to 135.84 points. Your return was just under 1.29 percent./tih/he
By Timo Hausdorf, dpa-AFX
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