(message supplemented by individual values)
NEW YORK (awp international) – At the end of a good stock market week, prices on the US stock markets rose again. Relief prevailed among investors on Friday in view of the new inflation data. The PCE price index, which is preferred by the US Federal Reserve, did not rise quite as much in February as analysts had expected. The Dow Jones Industrial rose by 1.26 percent to 33,274.15 points and for the first time in three weeks passed the 33,000 point mark. Since the beginning of the year, the Dow has been moderately up again.
The market-wide S&P 500 gained 1.44 percent to 4109.31 points. That meant the highest level since mid-February. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 was up 1.68 percent to 13,181.35 points – even to its highest level since August 2022.
On a weekly basis, the leading index Dow posted an increase of a good three percent. “If we end the week in the green that’s a big deal given how disastrous the rest of the month has been,” analyst Craig Erlam of brokerage Oanda wrote ahead of the start of trading, primarily in view of the recent problems in the banking sector . The difficulties of several US regional banks triggered a sell-off in the industry in the first half of the month, which had a negative impact on the overall market.
Looking at the individual values, two lightweights attracted interest on Friday. Virgin Orbit shares fell more than 40 percent. After a failed satellite launch earlier this year, British billionaire Richard Branson’s space company is laying off most of its employees. The stock fell below $1 in mid-March, making it a penny stock. The company is now worth just under $70 million on the stock exchange. At the beginning of 2022, the company was worth $3.8 billion.
Shares in Nikola fell more than 14 percent. The developer of battery and hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles has increased capital by $100 million. The new shares were placed at $1.12 per share, well below the previous day’s closing price of $1.40, disappointing the market.
The biggest losers in the Nasdaq 100 index were Micron Technology, which fell 4.4 percent. In the dispute with the USA over semiconductors, China now wants to take a close look at the company’s products in terms of cyber security.
In New York currency trading on Friday, the euro ended recent gains and fell. Most recently, the euro cost 1.0845 US dollars. The European Central Bank had set the reference rate at 1.0875 (Thursday: 1.0886) dollars. The dollar had thus cost 0.9195 (0.9186) euros.
In government bond trading, prices rose before the weekend. The futures contract for ten-year bonds (T-Note Future) gained 0.38 percent to 115.02 points. The yield on ten-year government bonds fell accordingly to 3.48 percent./bek/he
— By Benjamin Krieger, dpa-AFX —
