The leading index Dow Jones Industrial fell by 0.21 percent to 35 369.09 points. On a weekly basis, this means a minus of 0.24 percent. The S&P 500 closed hardly changed on Friday at 4535.43 points, after reaching a record high the day before. The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100, however, gained 0.31 percent to 15,652.86 points.
“This labor market report will be a headache for the US Federal Reserve (Fed),” wrote Thomas Altmann of wealth manager QC Partners. With job growth far below expectations and a simultaneous low unemployment rate, it is difficult to work out a clear line with a view to reducing the number of bond purchases to support the economy. With wages rising faster than expected, inflation remains a major issue. So far, at least, the Fed’s ultra-loose monetary policy is still driving the stock markets.
The fact that no new recreational jobs were created in the US in August given the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, and concerns about restrictions in the wake of the spread of the delta variant hit some stocks in the sector hard. The shares in the cruise companies Royal Caribbean Group and Carnival sagged by more than four percent at the end of the S&P 500.
The shares of the amusement park operator Six Flags and SeaWorld Entertainment fell by about three and a half percent each.
The focus was also on fresh quarterly figures from two technology companies. The shares of the server and network service provider Hewlett Packard Enterprise lost initial profits of more than three percent almost completely and were in the end 0.6 percent in the plus. Analyst Tim Long from the British investment bank Barclays wrote in a study of a mixed quarter. The operating margin was worse than expected, but the company is making progress in terms of sales.
The papers of the second company, the chip company Broadcom, rose by a good one percent. Here Stacy Rasgon from Bernstein Research spoke of a solid quarter and a strong outlook for the last quarter of the financial year. The analyst continues to appreciate Broadcom for the way in which the chip shortage situation is being dealt with.
In addition, the shares in the Chinese transport service broker and Uber competitor Didi rose by a good two percent. According to media reports, Didi could soon be nationalized. The Beijing city government has proposed a corresponding investment in the company, wrote the Bloomberg news agency, citing people familiar with the matter. For a few months now, a regulatory offensive for China’s tech stocks listed in the USA has been a topic of conversation again and again.
The euro had only benefited more significantly from the US job data in the meantime, but then fell back again and was most recently quoted at 1.1876 US dollars. The European Central Bank had previously set the reference rate at 1.1872 (Thursday: 1.1846) dollars. The dollar cost 0.8423 (0.8442) euros.
The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note-Future) fell 0.12 percent to 133.38 points. The return on ten-year government bonds was most recently 1.32 percent./la/mis
— By Lutz Alexander, dpa-AFX —
(AWP)
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