NEW YORK (awp international) – Led by the technology stocks, the US stock exchanges rose sharply on Friday and thus also gained significantly on a weekly basis. The tech-heavy and interest-rate-sensitive Nasdaq 100 rose 2.06 percent to 13,565.87 points. The leading index Dow Jones Industrial increased by 1.27 percent to 33,761.05 points. The market-wide S&P 500 rose by 1.73 percent to 4280.15 points.
The weekly result is very strong with the Nasdaq 100 up 2.7 percent, the Dow up 2.9 percent and the S&P 500 up 3.3 percent. The rally has been running since mid-June. The main driver is the hope that the US Federal Reserve will control its monetary policy with interest rate increases that are not quite as large as to avoid a severe economic downturn. The Nasdaq 100 alone has recovered by around 23 percent since its June low at 11,037 points and reached its highest level since the end of April at the end of trading on Friday.
For the analyst Konstantin Oldenburger from the broker CMC Markets this is also reason to warn: “The courageous comeback of the technology stocks in the past two months has already pushed up the previously fallen valuations compared to the overall market, which could endanger the bull market, the Fed shouldn’t take their foot off the brake pedal when interest rates are turned around.”
In the middle of the week, falling inflation in the USA had fueled hopes that the Fed might not be able to raise interest rates quite as much in the near future. However, Mary Daly, San Francisco Fed Chair, said inflation is still too high and monetary policy is likely to remain tight in the coming year. For Daly, another major rate hike of 0.75 percentage points in September is quite conceivable.
All the same: US import prices gave a signal of relaxation on Friday. They fell by 1.4 percent in July compared to the previous month and thus more than experts had expected. The consumer climate at the University of Michigan also surprised positively.
In the technology sector, Apple provided further confidence with statements on iPhone production. According to the group, at least as many iPhones of the latest generation should be manufactured this year as last year. Apple is banking on well-heeled customers and dwindling competition to weather the global downturn in the electronics industry.
Apple shares went up 2.1 percent. With a gain of a good third since mid-June, Apple has clearly beaten the strong indices on the Nasdaq. With the closing price on Friday of $172.10, there is not much missing from the record high of around $183 reached at the beginning of the year. Other tech giants such as Tesla, Micron and Nvidia also rose sharply on Friday, each with more than four percent.
The shares of the entertainment group Walt Disney conquered the top spot in the Dow for the third day in a row, on Friday they gained 3.3 percent. Strong quarterly figures gave a boost this week.
Fitness equipment specialist Peloton announced a sweeping drastic cut that includes nearly 800 job cuts and price hikes on bikes and other equipment. Peloton also wants to outsource equipment deliveries and customer service to other companies. During the pandemic, the stocks were among the high-flyers on the stock market. After the record high at the beginning of 2021 at a good 171 dollars, it went downhill to almost 8 dollars this July. This Friday, the papers closed 13.6 percent higher at $ 13.53.
Illumina posted losses of 8.4 percent. The gene sequencing specialist confronted investors with weak quarterly figures and a canceled forecast.
The electric car manufacturer Rivian exceeded market expectations with its quarterly sales and confirmed its delivery targets. However, the company trimmed its full-year earnings guidance as supply chain issues, high costs and economic uncertainty continued to weigh on it. The stocks ended trading slightly lower.
The euro came under pressure. After the US market closed, 1.0257 US dollars were paid for the European common currency. Improved US consumer confidence supported the dollar. In the European morning trade, the euro was still above 1.03 dollars. The European Central Bank (ECB) had set the reference rate at 1.0285 (Thursday: 1.0338) dollars, the dollar thus cost 0.9722 (0.9673) euros.
US Treasury bond prices recovered somewhat from the sharp losses of the previous day. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) recently rose by 0.21 percent to 119.34 points. In return, the yield on ten-year government bonds fell to 2.84 percent./ajx/he
— By Achim Jüngling, dpa-AFX —
–
