NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – After a turbulent ups and downs in trading, the stock markets in the USA again had to pay tribute to the conflict over Ukraine on Friday. After the bitter losses of the previous day, the charges were somewhat lower this time. The Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) lost 0.68 percent to 34,079.18 points. On a weekly basis, the Ukraine conflict brought the leading index down by almost two percent.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 fell further, down 1.14 percent to 14,009.54 points. The market-wide S&P 500 fell by 0.72 percent to 4348.87 points.
The current mood on the financial markets is somewhere between hope and fear. On the one hand, diplomacy has not yet failed, the US and Russian foreign ministers plan to meet next week for advice. However, this contrasts with reports that separatists in the Donbass region of Ukraine want to evacuate women and children to Russia. NATO is also increasing the operational readiness of thousands of soldiers.
Analyst Jim Reid from Deutsche Bank sees the situation in Ukraine as “on a knife’s edge”. The day before, the attitude of the investors was that the conflict could break out imminently. With the talks announced between Russia and the United States, “an olive branch is being handed out,” so to speak.
The fact that the US stock exchanges were closed on Monday for a holiday could also have contributed to the recent losses. Given that the crisis could escalate at any time, investors could have limited the risks before the long weekend and liquidated equity positions to be on the safe side.
Looking at the individual values, news about quarterly figures and takeovers are once again making the music. The chemical group Dupont is selling its specialty plastics business to Celanese – and pocketing eleven billion US dollars in cash. After initial gains, Dupont shares turned negative by a good one percent. The shares of the buyer Celanese
At the close of the Dow, Intel shares were down 5.3 percent to their lowest level since late 2020. The chip giant struck an “almost absurdly optimistic tone” at an analysts’ conference the day before, wrote analyst Stacy Rasgon of Bernstein Research. The expert warned that the prospect of strong growth would cost a lot of money in the coming years.
Shares in agricultural machinery manufacturer Deere & Co (DeereCo (John Deere)) lost three percent. Analysts praised its business figures, but at the same time referred to supply problems in the current year. The streaming service provider Roku is also struggling with problems in the supply of electrical components. Its goals for the current first quarter were disappointing on the market, with the price falling by more than 20 percent.
Ford shares gained almost three percent. According to a report by the Bloomberg news agency, the carmaker is considering spinning off its electric car business in order to gain a higher overall rating from investors.
The euro weakened slightly against the US dollar, and given the Ukraine conflict the dollar was in demand as a global reserve currency. Most recently, the euro cost $1.1325. The European Central Bank had previously set the reference rate at 1.1354 (Thursday: 1.1370) dollars. The dollar had thus cost 0.8808 (0.8795) euros.
US government bonds, which are considered a safe investment, benefited from the general uncertainty on the financial markets. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) rose by 0.22 percent to 126.70 points. In return, the yield on ten-year government bonds fell to 1.92 percent./bek/he
— By Benjamin Krieger, dpa-AFX —
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