(message supplemented by individual values)
NEW YORK (awp international) – At the end of a strong stock market week, the US stock markets ran out of steam. While the Dow Jones Industrial was up a notch on Friday, tech stocks posted modest losses on average. Most recently, the surprisingly sharp drop in inflation in the USA had put everyone in a good mood. Now, however, robust economic data has raised fears that the US Federal Reserve might have to take somewhat more energetic action than previously thought to combat high inflation. Consumer sentiment brightened unexpectedly in July.
The Dow Jones Industrial increased by 0.33 percent to 34,509.03 points. This results in a weekly gain of 2.29 percent for the New York leading index.
The market-wide S&P 500 fell 0.10 percent on Friday to 4505.42 points. The technology-heavy selection index Nasdaq 100 fell by 0.04 percent to 15,565.60 points.
At the end of the week, Unitedhealth stood out positively with a plus of a good seven percent. This put the shares clearly at the top of the Dow. In view of the strong current business and good growth prospects, the health insurer had narrowed its annual profit target upwards. In the past quarter, the company exceeded analysts’ expectations in terms of sales and earnings.
The high key interest rates gave the big banks a strong boost in profits in the second quarter. JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup together made $22 billion in profit – up 37 percent from a year ago. Because the banks could charge significantly more for loans and, on the other hand, increased the interest on customer deposits much more slowly. The result: the margin increased and with it the profits.
However, investors only took marginal note of this. JPMorgan shares gained 0.6 percent, while Wells Fargo fell 0.3 percent. Citigroup shares even lost 4.1 percent. The bank’s results are less impressive compared to those of JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, the market said.
Overall, the banks’ figures on Friday were overshadowed by concerns about future fiercer competition in the financial sector when it comes to attracting deposits and inflows from customers. It is also feared that more loans could default in the course of a pronounced economic downturn. At the S&P 500 end, the Bank of New York Mellon fell 6.7 percent and State Street 12.1 percent.
AT&T shares are down more than four percent. They fell to their lowest level in almost three decades. Concerns are growing about the potential high costs the phone giant faces if it has to clean up contamination from lead-clad cables on parts of its nationwide network.
Leslie’s shares fell to a record low and ended up falling almost 30 percent. The direct sales company for swimming pool supplies had lowered the outlook for the 2023 financial year.
The euro was last seen at $1.1226 after hitting its highest level since February 2022. The European Central Bank had set the reference rate at 1.1221 (Thursday: 1.1182) US dollars. The dollar thus cost 0.8912 (0.8943) euros.
The futures contract for ten-year bonds (T-Note Future) recently fell by 0.48 percent to 112.50 points. In return, the yield on ten-year Treasuries rose to 3.83 percent./la/he
— By Lutz Alexander, dpa-AFX —
2023-07-14 20:33:36
#Equities #York #Conclusion #Dow #ends #strong #week #small
