NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The profits on the US stock exchanges melted away on Tuesday in the course of trading. For the leading index Dow Jones Industrial, it was still enough for a plus of 0.17 percent to 34,366 points after it had risen by a good one percent at its peak. Fresh inflation data provided some relief. US consumer prices did not rise quite as much as feared in the less volatile core rate in March. Bond yields then fell while stock prices rallied.
“That should give some reassurance to markets that had braced themselves for the worst,” wrote Janus Henderson analyst Matt Peron, referring to consumer prices. The crucial question now is whether inflation has peaked and, if so, at what rate it is falling.
The broader S&P 500 was up 0.22 percent to 4422 points. The tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 advanced 0.42 percent to 14,050 points. It had recently suffered significantly more from rising yields than the Dow and S&P 500.
Investors could also keep a low profile in front of the annual reports of the big investment banks. In the coming days, the financial institutions JPMorgan (JPMorgan ChaseCo), Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup will present their quarterly reports.
Among individual stocks, shares in retailer Kohl’s rose six percent. According to an agency report, the retail holding company Franchise Group is considering an acquisition of Kohl’s. The purchase offer would value the company at nine billion US dollars. However, Hudson Bay Company has indicated in the past that it would also acquire Kohl’s at a higher price than Franchise Group.
Beyond Meat’s shares initially advanced by up to nearly 6 percent, but then turned negative. In an interview with the CNBC television channel, a top manager of the manufacturer of meat substitutes announced that he wanted to boost the business with products made from alternatives to chicken meat.
In addition, analyst comments moved the courses: Citigroup forecast increasing competition in the software industry and therefore recommended selling Cisco. The shares lost 1.3 percent at the end of the Dow. Morgan Stanley voted to sell shares in Hewlett Packard Enterprise, after which the IT consultant’s share price fell 1.6 percent./bek/he
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