Midweek, US stock markets have not taken a clear direction. The technology stocks on the Nasdaq continued on their successful course, while the majority of blue chips on Wall Street were moderately in the red. Here, however, the profits crumbled off recently. Some fresh inflation and economic data had a somewhat positive effect on the indices.
The Dow Jones Industrial turned down and was unable to maintain its slight initial gains. On Tuesday, the leading US index fell by more than one percent, most recently it was 0.23 percent lower at 33,831.39 points. On Wednesday, the market-wide S&P 500 gained 0.13 percent to 3996.00 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 0.06 percent to 11,564.54 points.
In December, producer price inflation weakened for the sixth time in a row and more sharply than expected. In addition, retail sales fell surprisingly sharply in December. In December, industrial production collapsed much more sharply than economists had forecast. The central bank’s economic report (“Beige Book”) is still on the agenda for late trading.
Thanks to a pleasing year-end, United Airlines shares rose by 1.1 percent and thus continued their rapid rise since the beginning of the year (plus 36 percent). Thanks to the recovery in travel in the past quarter, the airline again made a significant profit and increased revenues by a good half. The figures clearly exceeded the average analyst forecasts. It was also well received on the market that the airline intends to more than quadruple its adjusted earnings per share in 2023.
Microsoft’s shares reacted to the news of job cuts at the software giant with a minus of 0.3 percent. In view of the difficult market conditions, the group intends to lay off around 10,000 employees by the end of the third quarter of 2022/23. This corresponds to around five percent of the workforce. In the second fiscal quarter, expenses of 1.2 billion US dollars are in the room for this and other measures.
The biotech company Moderna scored with the approval of an RSV vaccine for adults over 60 years of age, which was aimed for in the first half of the year. In the phase III study required for approval, the vaccine showed “promising results”. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause respiratory diseases. As the Nasdaq 100 leader, Moderna stock soared 6.3 percent.
Charles Schwab’s shares fell 4.1 percent. Despite a significant profit growth in the fourth quarter, the financial services provider fell short of average analyst estimates.
After a negative analyst comment, IBM’s shares lost 1.4 percent and were thus among the weakest Dow values. The investment bank Morgan Stanley had downgraded the titles of the computer group.
