The US benchmark index Dow Jones Industrial fell 0.78 percent to 34,060.66 points. For the market-wide S&P 500 it was down 0.85 percent to 4127.83 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 lost initial gains and ended up losing 0.72 percent to 13,217.68 points.
Meanwhile, Walmart spread optimism. The largest US retailer had raised its annual targets after a strong first quarter. In its home market, the company benefited greatly from the trillion dollar government aid programs to cope with the Corona crisis, which strongly boosted consumer spending. The shares gained a good two percent at the top of the Dow.
At the end of the index, Chevron’s stocks lost more than four percent. Star investor Warren Buffett had cut his stake in the oil company by half.
The international media industry is apparently still moving after two big deals. According to circles, the world’s largest online retailer Amazon is said to be interested in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studios. Amazon could thus strengthen its streaming service Prime Video in the face of increasingly fierce competition. Amazon’s shares fell by more than one percent.
Only at the beginning of this week, the wave of consolidation in the industry had ensured that the US telecommunications giant AT&T wanted to merge its Warner Media (CNN, HBO, Warner Bros.) media division with rival Discovery in order to strengthen its streaming offer. In Europe, the French television companies M6 and TF1 want to merge.
The shares of AT&T, which had lost almost three percent the day before after initial gains, now lost almost six percent, bringing up the rear in the S&P 500. With the deal, AT&T is largely giving up its ambitions to be a major player in the media business. And without all of Warner Media’s cash inflow, AT & T’s investors will now have to prepare for lower dividend payments going forward.
In a weak environment for telecom stocks on both sides of the Atlantic, the shares in T-Mobile US lost almost four percent and were thus the weakest value in the Nasdaq 100. According to circles, Deutsche Telekom wants to increase its stake in the US mobile operator. The Germans were aiming for a majority stake in the company, reports the Bloomberg news agency, citing a person familiar with the matter. A telecom spokesman made no comment on the matter to Bloomberg.
The euro was most recently quoted at US $ 1.2226 and was thus at its highest level since the end of February this year. It had previously become known that the Federal Constitutional Court had rejected two applications against the securities purchases by the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB set the reference rate at 1.2222 (Monday: 1.2143) dollars. The dollar cost 0.8182 (0.8235) euros.
The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note-Future) rose by 0.13 percent to 132.43 points. The yield on ten-year bonds was 1.64 percent./la/he
— By Lutz Alexander, dpa-AFX —
(AWP)
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