NEW YORK (awp international) – US stock markets continued their recent recovery on Wednesday following new inflation data. Consumer prices in the US rose by 7.0 percent compared to the same month last year. That’s the highest inflation rate since 1982, but it was expected by analysts. The pressure on the US Federal Reserve is now easing somewhat, and potential measures by monetary authorities have already been incorporated into the prices, said market expert Andreas Lipkow from the Comdirect.
The leading index Dow Jones Industrial gained 0.50 percent to 36,436 points in the first hour after opening. The market-wide S&P 500 advanced by 0.70 percent to 4746 points. For the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 – on Monday still at its lowest level since mid-October – the recovery rally continued with a gain of 0.99 percent to 16,001 points.
Meanwhile, the yield on ten-year paper on the US bond market fell again towards 1.7 percent. That too was a relief. However, strategist Marko Kolanovic from the investment bank JPMorgan sees no real burden on shares, even in rising interest rate expectations and capital market returns. Rather, they speak for shifts from growth stocks to valuable paper.
The day before, US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell had already calmed the markets and emphasized the economic strength of the United States. Because of the strong economy and the high inflation rate, he had signaled an increase in the key interest rate for the period from March.
Among the individual stocks, the focus is on the shares of Biogen with a price slump of 9.5 percent in the middle of the week. The US public health insurance wants to severely limit the assumption of the immense costs for the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm from Biogen. The papers of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, which, according to investors, is developing an even more promising Alzheimer’s drug, fell by 4.3 percent.
Meta shares were up 0.3 percent, showing themselves unfazed by a negative court decision. The competition lawsuit, with which the US government wants to break up the Facebook operator, has been accepted by a court in Washington at the second attempt. Judge James Boasberg now saw the allegation of unfair competition as much better justified in the amended lawsuit and also rejected Facebook’s request to dismiss the lawsuit.
In the Dow, Microsoft stocks were up 2.5 percent. This was followed by the shares of Boeing with a plus of 2.2 percent, which had already been the winner of the day with a strong profit the day before. The shares of the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson were behind in the leading index on Wednesday with minus 1.6 percent./ajx/he
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