Thursday, 23.02.2023 22:26 from dpa-AFX
NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Concerns about interest rates on the one hand and the joy about good prospects for the chip group Nvidia on the other hand made it difficult for investors on the US stock market to make a directional decision for a long time on Thursday. At the end of the day, confidence probably prevailed that, despite rising interest rates, a hard landing for the US economy can still be avoided. Overall, however, interest rate concerns remain dominant in the market.
The leading index, the Dow Jones Industrial, temporarily fell below the January support to its lowest level in two months. At the close of trading on Thursday, however, things looked better again, with growth of 0.33 percent to 33,153.91 points. On the Nasdaq 100, the round mark of 12,000 points shook, at the end of the day the technology selection index was significantly higher at 12,180.14 points and an increase of 0.94 percent. The broad S&P 500 gained 0.53 percent to 4012.32 points.
The turnaround in interest rates is not letting go of investors anytime soon. The minutes of the US Federal Reserve from the previous day left a double-edged impression. Ultimately, it caused more uncertainty than relief. Fresh economic data on Thursday gave an impression of the scope for monetary policy that the economy allows: Growth in gross domestic product fell slightly short of expectations in the fourth quarter, as the second estimate showed. In contrast, the weekly initial jobless claims fell surprisingly.
Nvidia shone on the Nasdaq with quarterly figures and a strong sales outlook. Market observers took this as a signal that the chip and processor manufacturer’s push for “artificial intelligence” (AI) solutions is worthwhile. The Nvidia course rose by 14 percent.
Ebay, on the other hand, lost 5.2 percent after a disappointing outlook. The economic environment is leaving its mark on the marketplace operator, it said. Jefferies Research analyst John Colantuoni is worried about the online auction house’s profitability.
Netflix continued the recent weakness with a price discount of 3.4 percent. Price reductions planned by the streaming service in many countries had a negative impact. Analyst Doug Anmuth from JPMorgan sees a buying opportunity in the harsh price reaction.
Thursday was also a day to forget for investors in Unity Software and Lucid, as the discounts of 15.9 and 11.9 percent, respectively, showed. At Unity, a development service provider for the computer games industry, the outlook was disappointing. At Lucid, investors threw in the towel on the occasion of the delivery figures and production plans of the electric car manufacturer.
The US biotech company Moderna earned significantly less at the end of the year. The reason is lower demand for corona vaccines. The company also suffered from sharply rising costs. The share price slipped by 6.7 percent.
The euro fell below 1.06 US dollars, most recently the common currency cost 1.0598 dollars. The European Central Bank (ECB) had previously set the reference rate at 1.0616 (Wednesday: 1.0644) dollars, the dollar had cost 0.9420 (0.9395) euros.
On the US bond market, the futures contract for ten-year government bonds (T-Note Future) gained 0.28 percent to 111.52 points. The yield on ten-year government bonds stood at 3.87 percent./ajx/he
— By Achim Jüngling, dpa-AFX —
