NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – As won as it is gone: After a strong recovery in the middle of the week, the US stock exchanges gave way again massively on Thursday. The more than three percent increase in yields on ten-year US government bonds caused increased nervousness. In addition, productivity in the US economy fell more sharply than feared in the first quarter and fell more sharply than at any time since 1947. On the other hand, the fact that the number of initial applications for unemployment benefits rose surprisingly last week should hardly matter, because the level of applications for unemployment benefits remains low in a longer-term comparison.
The Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) is down 2.73 percent to 33,130.17 points about two hours before the close after Wall Street’s index recovered nearly 3 percent on Wednesday. The US Federal Reserve (Fed) had previously set the key interest rate significantly higher, but at the same time put a damper on the possibility of even more significant hikes. Interest rate hikes of 0.75 percentage points, which were previously discussed on the markets, are therefore less likely, but experts now see this as a double-edged sword.
Fed President Jerome Powell may have unintentionally set the course for further turbulence on the markets by not taking an even stronger interest rate hike in June, it was said, citing concerns about persistently high inflation.
The S&P 500 recently lost 3.20 percent to 4162.39 points, the NASDAQ 100 lost 4.63 percent to 12,908.88 points. It’s getting closer to its low earlier in the week, when it fell to its lowest level in more than a year.
Among the individual values, quarterly reports were again in focus. eBay shares on the Nasdaq fell by almost eleven percent. Concerns about growth weighed on the auction platform’s shares. Although the first quarter was better than feared, the difficult environment is slowing down ambitions for the second quarter and for the year as a whole, said JPMorgan expert Doug Anmuth.
Shopify fell by around 13 percent after missed profit expectations and an announced acquisition – the largest in the company’s history of the e-commerce platform. Concerns about declining online purchases given the end of the Covid-19 pandemic are now also increasingly pressing on Amazon. The shares of the world’s largest online retailer lost almost seven percent.
The breakfast cereal manufacturer Kellogg, on the other hand, reported a surprisingly strong quarter and raised its sales outlook. The share certificates then rose by four percent.
Nikola (Nikola) reported a smaller quarterly loss than a year ago, but missed analysts’ expectations. Market observers attributed the fact that the shares in the electric truck manufacturer rose by around five percent to the recent price weakness. Only the day before, the papers had fallen to a two-month low.
The papers from lithium producers, which Tesla boss Elon Musk had recently focused on in view of the importance of the raw material for electric cars, were also in demand. After Livent, which had shot up by 30 percent the day before and now fell by almost two percent, investors now grabbed Albemarle. The specialty chemicals group clearly exceeded market expectations with its quarterly figures and significantly increased its annual targets. The papers on the Nyse then recently gained almost eight percent./ck/he
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