NEW YORK (awp international) – The optimism about a possible relaxation in the Russian war against Ukraine faded on Wednesday and with it the good mood on the US stock exchange. The previous day’s gains were partially lost. After a directionless start, the Dow Jones Industrial finally fell by 0.19 percent to 35,228.81 points. On Tuesday, the best-known Wall Street index had increased by one percent.
The S&P 500 fell 0.63 percent to 4602.45 points midweek. The Nasdaq 100, which is predominantly stocked with technology stocks, lost 1.10 percent to 15,071.55 points.
Russia’s announcement the day before that it would reduce hostilities near Kyiv has meanwhile met with skepticism in Ukraine and in the West. According to recent statements by the US government, only a small proportion of the troops around the capital have been withdrawn. In addition, Russia said that no breakthrough had yet been achieved in the negotiations. As a result, crude oil prices rose again, prompting renewed fears of a recession.
The jobs data from the private sector, which is an indication for the monthly jobs report on Friday, had little impact on sentiment. The US private sector, for example, created more jobs in March, although the increase in jobs was only slightly lower than in the previous month.
Among the individual values, Apple gave way after a friendly start to trading and lost 0.7 percent to 177.77 US dollars. The iPhone manufacturer’s stock has recovered so much in the past eleven trading days that it is already heading towards a record high again. It reached $182.94 in early January, becoming the first company to break the $3 trillion mark in market value.
At the bottom of the Dow was home improvement chain Home Depot, down 2.9 percent, while Unitedhealth, the Wall Street index’s top performer, rose 2.0 percent. The health insurer had announced the day before that it wanted to take over the LHC Group, which specializes in home care. As a result, the share fell moderately in the strong overall market.
The German Biontech was also in the focus of investors. The corona vaccine manufacturer significantly exceeded the previous year’s figures with important performance indicators for 2021. The company also reiterated the sales target range for its Covid-19 vaccine this year and plans to launch a share buyback program of up to $1.5 billion. A special dividend of EUR 2 per share is also planned. The stock, which rose sharply in early trading, ended up just 1.4 percent higher on the Nasdaq.
Later, the Baidu shares also came into focus, which – also on the Nasdaq – fell by 2.6 percent after initial gains. The US Securities and Exchange Commission put the Chinese search engine operator on its list of companies at risk of being delisted because the Chinese government refuses to allow US officials to see the work of its auditors.
The euro closed at $1.1160 on Wall Street. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at 1.1126 (Tuesday: 1.1085) dollars. The dollar thus cost 0.8988 (0.9021) euros.
On the US bond market, US government bonds gained after a somewhat weaker start. The futures contract for trend-setting ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) recently rose by 0.37 percent to 122.78 points. The yield on ten-year government bonds fell to 2.35 percent./ck/he
— By Claudia Müller, dpa-AFX —
–
