NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The most important US stock indices developed in different directions on Thursday after a weak start – with tech stocks leading the way. Overall, the price movements were manageable – in addition to the rapidly increasing number of corona infections, the focus was on disappointing data from the labor market. What stood out, however, was the apartment broker Airbnb, who made an even more furious stock market debut than the food delivery company Doordash on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial curbed its minus to 0.23 percent at the end of 29,999.26 points. In the middle of the week, the US benchmark index had once again reached a historic high. The previous day’s weak, market-wide S&P 500 ultimately lost 0.13 percent on Thursday to 3668.10 points. For the technology-heavy selection index Nasdaq 100, however, it went up by 0.30 percent to 12,401.74 points after the clear setback from the previous day.
On Wednesday, the number of corona deaths recorded within 24 hours in the USA was above 3,000 for the first time. The number of new infections within one day again exceeded the 200,000 mark, but remained below its record level. In addition, the number of initial jobless claims in the United States rose surprisingly sharply in the past week.
The first price of Airbnb was meanwhile at 146 US dollars, well above the issue price, which was raised several times from ultimately 68 dollars. At the close of trading, the share stood at 144.71 dollars, which means that Airbnb is valued at around 100 billion dollars. For comparison: With the equivalent of 83 billion euros, Airbnb is worth a little more than the German insurer Allianz. With this, Airbnb continued the series of successful IPOs that make Corona 2020 a record year for IPOs in the United States.
Meanwhile, Doordash stocks paid only insignificant tribute to the fireworks on the occasion of their IPO yesterday, with a minus of almost two percent to $ 186. The stock of the food delivery company, which had previously gone to shareholders at a unit price of $ 102, had closed the first day of trading at $ 189.51, an increase of almost 86 percent compared to the issue price.
The shareholders of Biontech and Pfizer, meanwhile, awaited the decision of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve their vaccine in the US. It has already been approved in several other countries. While Biontech papers on the US stock exchange rose by over five and a half percent, Pfizer was down 0.3 percent.
At Starbucks, the shareholders could look forward to a price increase of almost five percent. The coffee house chain expects a clear business recovery in 2021 and wants to increase the number of its cafes from currently around 33,000 to a good 55,000 within ten years.
The shares of the oil company Chevron were the favorite of investors in the Dow with over three percent plus. They benefited from the fact that the price of a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent oil rose to $ 50 for the first time since March. Outside the US benchmark index, Exxon Mobil went up nearly three percent.
After several days of weakness, the euro defied renewed monetary easing by the European Central Bank (ECB) and most recently rose to $ 1.2139 in New York. The ECB had set the reference rate at 1.2115 (Wednesday: 1.2109) dollars and the dollar cost 0.8254 (0.8258) euros.
US government bonds benefited from the weak labor market data, the current development of the corona pandemic and the uncertainties about the outcome of the Brexit negotiations between the EU and Great Britain: the futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note future) rose 0.17 percent to 137.87 points, while the yield on the ten-year bond fell accordingly to 0.91 percent./gl/men
By Gerold Löhle, dpa-AFX
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