NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US stock markets extended their initial minus in trading on Friday. Disappointing quarterly reports from some technology groups dampened the recently brightened mood among investors. The volatility on the stock exchanges remains high, said market expert Jim Reid from Deutsche Bank and referred, among other things, to the recently strengthened US dollar and rising oil prices as an expression of the increasing uncertainty.
The Dow Jones Industrial recently fell by 1.60 percent to 33,374.15 points. This indicates a weekly loss of around 1.3 percent for the US leading index and a minus of around 3.8 percent for April. The market-wide S&P 500 lost 2.30 percent on Friday to 4188.90 points. The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.94 percent to 13,060.64 points. In April, the technology-heavy index fell by around twelve percent, the worst monthly performance since the financial crisis in November 2008.
Fresh US economic data had little impact on prices. US consumer sentiment did not improve quite as much as expected in April. The consumer climate survey by the University of Michigan rose by 5.8 points to 65.2 points compared to the previous month. US consumer spending increased significantly in March. The labor cost index climbed 1.4 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter.
A disappointing quarterly report from Amazon caused the price to fall by 13.8 percent. High costs caused the operating profit of the online trading group to collapse by 58 percent. The outlook for the current quarter was also considered a burden. Analysts lowered their price targets one after another, but many of them did not want to overstate the news in anticipation of a better second half of the year.
Other tech giants such as Apple and Intel lost 2.2 and 6.1 percent respectively because of disappointing prospects. Although the iPhone manufacturer exceeded expectations with its quarterly report, it warned of stronger headwinds. Apple could lose up to $8 billion in sales in the current quarter, mainly because of lockdowns in Shanghai. At the processor manufacturer Intel, it was considered a burden that sales are falling together with the shrinking PC market.
Outside the tech sector, too, there were increasingly negative price reactions after quarterly reports on Friday. The shares of the oil company Chevron were traded 2.3 percent lower despite the rising oil prices. The competitor ExxonMobil posted a minus of 1.1 percent.
Colgate-Palmolive lost 4.6 percent. High raw material and transport costs made things difficult for the consumer goods manufacturer in the first quarter. Dow-listed Honeywell shares were a positive exception, up 3.4 percent after an elevated sales and earnings outlook.
Tesla’s shares rose 2.1 percent after Elon Musk – founder and CEO of the electric car maker – announced that he did not plan any further sales of Tesla shares./edh/he
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