NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US stock markets are likely to open in the middle of the week with negative signs. About three quarters of an hour before the start of trading, broker IG rated the Dow Jones Industrial 0.28 percent lower at 35,194 points. The day before, the leading US index had increased by around one percent. IG signaled the technology stock-heavy Nasdaq 100 around 0.5 percent in the red on Wednesday.
The optimism about a possible easing in the war between Russia and Ukraine, which was palpable the day before, has now evaporated. The Kremlin declared that the negotiations with Ukraine had not brought a breakthrough. Oil prices, which have risen again, provided negative impetus, fueling new fears of a recession. Fresh US labor market data had little impact on the listings before the market.
The US private sector once again created numerous jobs in March. Compared to the previous month, 455,000 jobs were added, as announced by the labor market service provider ADP. The increase is only slightly below the increase in jobs in the previous month. Analysts had expected an average of 450,000 new jobs. A particularly large number of jobs were added in the service sector, which is likely to have benefited from fewer corona restrictions.
Among the individual values, the shares of Biontech should be the focus of investors. The corona vaccine manufacturer generated a net profit of around 10.3 billion euros in 2021 with sales of almost 19 billion euros. Both key data clearly exceeded the previous year’s figures. The company also reiterated its sales target range of €13 billion to €17 billion for its Covid-19 vaccine this year and plans to launch a share buyback program of up to $1.5 billion and pay a special dividend of €2 per share.
The Biontech figures were convincing across the board, stated analyst Konstantin Oldenburger from CMC Markets. The people from Mainz have again managed to surpass the already high estimates of the analysts with the figures. However, the development of an omicron-specific and bivalent vaccine candidate should also be viewed positively. Biontech shares surged 7.3 percent in premarket US trading. The shares of the partner Pfizer increased slightly before the market./edh/jha/
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