The driving force behind the latest rally, the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100, was only moderately in the red by 0.09 percent on 13,394 points. The market-wide S&P 500 lost 0.28 percent to 3842 points. The day before, all three of the stock market barometers mentioned had soared to new historical highs.
The day before, the Dow and the S&P had not been able to hold initial gains until the closing bell. Slowly but surely, the euphoria about Joe Biden’s assumption of office is giving way to worries about the corona pandemic. The new US president’s plans for another major stimulus package to combat the effects of the pandemic are also meeting with resistance in the Senate. Biden’s Democrats have a wafer-thin majority there thanks to the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. For many measures, however, Biden is dependent on dissenters from the ranks of the Republicans.
IBM’s shares plummeted nearly eleven percent to their lowest level in two months. The computer dinosaur suffered surprisingly significant business losses at the end of the year. Net profit collapsed by two thirds due to high spending on corporate restructuring.
Intel, however, had convinced investors on Thursday shortly before the close of trading with the quarterly report. On Thursday evening, the price jumped nine percent to its highest level since June last year. At this level, investors now cashed in on Friday and raked in price gains. In addition, some investors were apparently disappointed by statements by the prospective CEO Pat Gelsinger, who wants to continue to manufacture the majority of the Intel chips himself – which some have been critical of the problems with in-house manufacturing technology in the recent past. The Intel papers lost more than seven percent before the weekend.
Schlumberger shares fell one percent. The equipment supplier and service provider for the oil and gas producers exceeded expectations with its quarterly profit; However, the falling oil price put pressure on the quotations of large oil companies such as Chevron, Exxon Mobil and also on Schlumberger -Aktie./bek/men on Friday
(AWP)
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