NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US leading index Dow Jones Industrial closed almost unchanged on Wednesday. While it was unable to hold its profits in the course of trading, the three other major US indices rose. After the new records last week, however, the air has become thinner, especially since the reporting season starts on Friday with the first US banks. In the middle of the week, investors focused on the tech industry, above all Intel and Affirm’s breathtaking IPO.
The Dow ended the day down 0.03 percent to 31,060.47 points. The market-wide S&P 500, meanwhile, advanced 0.23 percent to 3809.84 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 continued to build on its early gains, climbing 0.63 percent to 12,973.63 points.
The moderate boost could have been triggered by a circular from the Bloomberg news agency: As a person familiar with the matter said, according to her, the high-ranking Democrat and future Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has urged President-elect Joe Biden to more than 1.3 trillion in a first round US dollars in corona aid.
However, the inflation data did not provide any particular impetus. In December, consumer prices rose by 1.4 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, slightly more than expected. Core consumer prices – excluding components that usually fluctuate in price, such as energy and food – rose by 1.6 percent, as in the two previous months, which means that the inflation target of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) of around two percent is still undercut.
“In secret, the monetary authorities are likely to be pleased that there is no significant inflationary pressure,” said economist Thomas Gitzel from VP Bank in Liechtenstein on the data. “Imagine that inflation rates would rise significantly. In this case, the Fed or the ECB would have to take countermeasures, possibly scaling back their securities purchase programs. At the same time, the financial markets would start betting on higher interest rates. This scenario would be for that current financial market events probably poison
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