ROUNDUP/New York Stocks Close: Dow strong – relief over interest rate outlook

increased by 2.79 percent to 12,276.79 points. The numerous growth stocks in the index had suffered in particular from the prospect of sharp interest rate hikes in the past few weeks.

“US stocks are rising sharply as investors take the Fed’s statements as evidence of only a gradual tightening of monetary policy to curb inflation,” wrote analyst Edward Moya of broker Oanda. The US Federal Reserve has allayed concerns about aggressive rate hikes in the short term.

The focus was on stocks from the badly battered technology sector. So Apple paid for it more than two percent initially. According to insiders, the iPhone manufacturer has doubts about the increase in sales of its smartphone in the current year. The shares then caught up on the losses and closed up 2.3 percent.

Medtronic lost almost six percent. The manufacturer of medical technology turned over less than expected in the fourth business quarter.

There was also news about Broadcom and his interest in VMWare . The chip group agreed with the software provider on a takeover for around 61 billion US dollars. Broadcom and VMWare each gained more than three percent.

Price rallies put down some stocks from the classic retail trade. The quarterly figures from Macy’s, Dollar Tree and Dollar General exceeded expectations, which have fallen sharply in recent weeks. The courses then shot up by 13.7 to 21.9 percent. The papers of the Chinese internet retailer Alibaba increased by almost 15 percent. The lockdowns in China recently drove consumers back to online shopping.

The biggest loser on the Nasdaq 100 was Kraft Heinz shares . A sell recommendation by the bank UBS for the papers of the food giant pushed the price down by a good seven percent. In addition, the second largest shareholder 3G Capital passed a package of 88 million shares to outside investors.

The Euro increased and last traded at $1.0723. The European Central Bank had set the reference rate at 1.0697 (Wednesday: 1.0656) dollars. The dollar had thus cost 0.9348 (0.9384) euros.

On the bond market, the futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) fell by 0.01 percent to 120.578 points. The yield on ten-year government bonds was 2.75 percent./bek/he

— By Benjamin Krieger, dpa-AFX —

Source: dpa-AFX

–