NEW YORK (awp international) – In the middle of the week, the US leading index made it to another high. With 35,669.69 points, the Dow surpassed the previous record high of mid-August on Wednesday. The higher profit targets of the telecommunications giant Verizon and the pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories were well received by investors. This could mean that the quarterly reports season could continue to develop well. At the closing bell, the Dow recorded an increase of 0.43 percent to 35,609.34 points.
The market-wide S&P 500 gained 0.37 percent to 4536.19 points and just barely missed another high. For the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100, however, it fell moderately by 0.14 percent to 151 388.71 points. The index is a little further away from the record high of early September.
The upward movement was mainly driven by so-called defensive stocks and sectors. These included health stocks, utilities and real estate stocks. Most of the companies in these sectors have stable earnings and comparatively high dividend yields.
According to the Federal Reserve, economic growth in the USA has slowed somewhat in several regions. The economy grew at a moderate to moderate pace in the period from the beginning of September to the beginning of October, according to the economic report. In its last report, the Fed spoke of a moderate pace.
On the corporate side, the focus is still on the balance sheet season: shares in the streaming service Netflix fell 2.2 percent. Despite an unexpectedly strong third quarter, some observers found a fly in the ointment and criticized the outlook for the final quarter.
Stocks of the telecom company Verizon and the pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories were in demand – both companies raised their profit forecasts. Verizon was up 2.4 percent and Abbott Laboratories was up 3.3 percent. At Abbott, analysts praised the strong performance in the Covid-19 test business.
The shares of the social picture network Pinterest benefited from speculation about its acquisition. The online payment service PayPal is interested, reported the Bloomberg news agency. Pinterest stocks jumped nearly 13 percent while PayPal fell nearly 5 percent.
Meanwhile, the shares of the corona vaccine manufacturer Novavax experienced a price drop of almost 15 percent. According to a report by the online portal Politico, the company is struggling with production difficulties before the drug is approved. As the portal reported with reference to informed circles, there are problems to meet the high quality standards of the regulatory authority.
The euro gained slightly in late US currency trading and was most recently quoted at 1.1651 US dollars. The European Central Bank had previously set the reference rate at 1.1623 (Tuesday: 1.1655) dollars. The dollar cost 0.86036 (0.8580) euros.
Quotes on the US bond market went on the spot. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note-Future) fell by 0.01 percent to 130.55 points. Ten-year government bonds yielded 1.65 percent./bek/he
— By Benjamin Krieger, dpa-AFX —
– .
