NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US stock exchanges recorded further profit-taking on Friday. In view of high valuations, mostly disappointing economic data and a sluggish start to the corporate reporting season, even the economic stimulus package promised by elected US President Joe Biden, which was merely expected, did not provide any buying arguments. In addition, US stock market trading paused on Monday because of Martin Luther King Day – before the long weekend and Biden’s swearing-in on Wednesday, many investors apparently did not want to take the risk.
The Dow Jones Industrial closed 0.57 percent lower at 30,814.26 points. The leading index thus posted a weekly minus of 0.91 percent. A similar picture as the Dow showed on Friday the market broad S&P 500, which fell by 0.72 percent to 3768.25 points. In the case of the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100, the price boards showed a loss of 0.73 percent to 12,803.93 meters.
The shares of the banks, which reported on their business development on Friday, could not escape the negative market environment. However, the price losses were different.
JPMorgan’s papers held up comparatively well after a recent strong run with a minus of 1.8 percent. The largest US financial institution surprised in the final quarter of 2020 with a profit jump to previously unknown heights. Instead of putting more money aside for endangered loans as expected by analysts, the bank even released provisions in the billions. But even without this step, JPMorgan would have increased profits more than experts expected.
In contrast, competitor Citigroup reported a significant decline in profits, which caused the shares to plummet by almost seven percent. Wells Fargo was not doing well either. The institute’s quarterly profit was four percent higher than a year earlier. But at that time legal costs had ruined the result. Accordingly, the shares have now lost almost eight percent.
The shares of the oil companies suffered from the significant drop in the price of the important raw material. In the Dow, Chevron was one of the biggest losers with a good three and a half percent minus. Outside the benchmark index, Exxon Mobil was down almost five percent. A report by the Wall Street Journal, according to which the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the company, also weighed down. The reason for this is supposed to be a complaint from a whistleblower about a too high rating of a funding facility.
An IPO once again ensured a good mood: the shares of the auto accessories specialist Driven Brands jumped up to a third in early trading. In the end, they were quoted at $ 26.69, which still meant a price premium of around 21 percent over the issue price of $ 22 – and this was already above the original range of $ 17 to 20. With almost 32 million shares, Driven Brands offered more than six million fewer shares than originally planned, according to the Nasdaq.
The euro expanded its losses in New York trading, most recently trading at $ 1.2078. The European Central Bank (ECB) had set the reference rate at 1.2123 (Thursday: 1.2124) dollars and the dollar cost 0.8249 (0.8248) euros.
In contrast, US government bonds benefited from the largely disappointing economic data: The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) rose by 0.30 percent to 136.95 points. The yield on the ten-year bond was 1.09 percent./gl/he
By Gerold Löhle, dpa-AFX
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