NEW YORK (awp international) – At the end of a strong week, the US stock markets initially lacked a clear direction on Friday. Most recently, the leading index Dow Jones Industrial lost 0.21 percent to 34,408.70 points. On a weekly basis, however, it is heading for an increase of almost four and a half percent after posting the strongest three-day rally since 2020 from Tuesday to Thursday. The broader S&P 500 rose 0.25 percent on Friday to 4,422.48 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index rose 1.04 percent to 14,265.29 points. Meanwhile, indications of US interest rates rising even more in the future and a lack of progress in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine slowed down investors’ willingness to buy.
Most recently, US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping spoke about Ukraine. China is Russia’s most important ally, but shows a certain detachment in attacking Ukraine. On Thursday, Washington again warned China not to support Russia with military equipment in the war against Ukraine. In such a case, the US would not hesitate to impose “costs” on China, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, alluding to possible sanctions.
In addition, options and futures on indices and individual stocks expire on the big expiration day this Friday on many stock exchanges, in the USA in the last hour of trading. Larger market players often try to influence prices in the desired direction before the expiry date. This often leads to larger price fluctuations.
In the case of individual values, business figures and analyst comments caused price swings. Although the logistics group Fedex benefited from the ongoing boom in online orders, it fell short of analysts’ expectations in the most recent financial quarter, despite significantly increased profits and sales. The shares lost more than four percent.
The shares of Gamestop, which are particularly popular with risk-taking private investors, increased by almost four percent after initial losses. The video games retailer closed the fourth business quarter with a decline in earnings and thus missed analysts’ expectations. However, sales were better than forecast.
The share certificates of the navigation device manufacturer Garmin rose by more than two percent. They were helped by an upgrade by Bank of America, which now recommends buying./gl/ngu
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