NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US stock market is still under the impression of an emerging major interest rate hike before the weekend. The day before, US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell had spoken about a major interest rate hike at the next Fed meeting in early May, thereby spoiling the good mood in the market.
In Friday trading, the New York stock indices extended their previous day’s losses. Two and a half hours before the market closed, the leading index Dow Jones Industrial fell by 1.79 percent to 34,168 points, which means that it is currently heading for a minus of 0.8 percent on a weekly basis. The market-wide S&P 500 was last 1.86 percent lower at 4312 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell just as sharply as the previous day, down 1.82 percent to 13,471 points, whose weekly balance sheet is currently deep in the red with a loss of three percent.
“As interest rates continue to rise, the pressure on the stock market also increases, because those who can achieve attractive returns without risk are avoiding investments that were once without alternatives in this uncertain environment,” explained analyst Konstantin Oldenburger from broker CMC Markets. For ten-year government bonds you can get almost three percent again, which not only means the level of 2018, but also threatens to break a four-decade-long downward trend in interest rates, Oldenburger analyzed.
Verizon shares brought up the rear in the Dow on Friday with a minus of almost six percent after the telecom group had formulated more cautious expectations for the current year than before in view of harsh competition. In the first quarter, the company also had to cope with the loss of 292,000 mobile contract customers. Competitor AT&T, on the other hand, had reported a significant increase of 691,000 new contracts after deduction of terminations the day before.
According to quarterly figures, American Express shares fell by 1.3 percent. In view of the high spending of the credit card company, profits fell, although they exceeded market expectations.
Worries about the economic consequences of the Russian war in Ukraine had an impact on the advertising business of the Snapchat photo app. Evan Spiegel, head of parent company Snap, conceded that the past quarter presented the US company with greater challenges than expected. Fluctuating more, their shares recently fell by more than two percent.
The oil field service provider Schlumberger convinced investors with its interim report and also surprised with a dividend increase of 40 percent. The shares gained more than four percent./ajx/he
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