Around three quarters of an hour before the official start of trading, the broker IG assessed the Dow Jones Industrial with an increase of almost 1.7 percent to 33,182 points. An even more significant recovery of 2.3 percent to 13,673 points was expected for the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100.
Investors see the planned meeting of the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia this Thursday in Antalya, Turkey, as a ray of hope. The government in Kyiv is now indicating that it is no longer insisting on immediate NATO membership and is not ruling out the country’s neutrality – which would at least correspond to some of Russia’s demands. In addition, according to Russian agency reports from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was announced that Moscow, for its part, is not seeking a change of power in Ukraine. It had sounded different in the last few days of the war.
Although Wall Street has been significantly less affected than, for example, the European stock exchanges since the beginning of the conflict, the losses there are now adding up. The Dow had only fallen to another low for almost a year during trading the day before, and an attempt to recover failed due to the further increase in energy prices. On Wednesday, the situation on the oil markets also eased significantly, with prices there recently falling noticeably.
Despite the current numerous bargains in shares, many market experts warn against exaggerated hopes. “Without a de-escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it could still be difficult for the stock markets to find a bottom,” fears Barclays expert Emmanuel Cau. And Jürgen Molnar from Robomarkets points out that even if the bloody conflict were to end, the resulting geopolitical and economic tensions between Russia and the West would not be eliminated. “What is likely to remain are the consequences of rising energy and commodity prices for inflation, monetary policy and economic growth. Not to forget the upheavals in the financial system should Russia actually slide into state bankruptcy.”
Meanwhile, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Coca-Cola continue to add to the list of US companies that are putting their deals with Russia on hold. Pepsico also wants to severely limit its business.
The geopolitical events were also reflected before the market in renewed sector changes. The most recently requested oil stocks lost significantly in view of the falling prices, in return airlines and cruise lines were in demand, which therefore have to shoulder lower fuel costs. The recently shaken chip values also recovered.
The shares of the US sporting goods manufacturer Nike and Under Armor also climbed – shares of the German competitor Adidas had previously jumped according to numbers and a positive outlook. / tav / eas
(AWP)
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