NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US stock exchanges developed inconsistently on Monday after a friendly start. Investors continue to weigh between the prospects for a recovering economy and the risks of rising inflation. Meanwhile, subdued current economic data did not fuel fears of an imminent tightening of American monetary policy.
Most recently, the Dow Jones Industrial rose by 0.78 percent to 34 140.63 points. The leading US index is only 0.3 percent short of its record of 34,256 points, or just over 100 points. The previous week the Dow closed with a loss of half a percent, but posted a plus of around 2.7 percent in April. The market-wide S&P 500 
advanced on Monday by 0.36 percent to 4196.14 points. In contrast, the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 slipped into the red and lost 0.08 percent to 13,849.07 points.
As the ISM purchasing managers index showed, sentiment in US industry surprisingly clouded over in April and did not improve as analysts expected. However, it still signals robust growth. The March index value was also the highest since 1983. In addition, it became known that construction investments had increased significantly less than forecast in March.
Market expert Thomas Altmann from asset manager QC Partners referred to the latest statements by US Federal Reserve member Robert Kaplan, who had warned against exaggerations on the stock markets and at the same time urged the US Federal Reserve to reduce its monthly bond purchases soon. Kaplan’s statement underlines that sooner or later the stock exchange traders will have to adjust to the end of the era of extremely cheap money, Altmann wrote. The cheap money flood of the central banks is considered to be one of the main drivers of the rally on the stock markets.
While US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen tended to downplay the dangers of rising inflation at the weekend, US star investor Warren Buffett had warned of rising prices in view of the strong economic recovery and the continued low interest rates.
With his investment company Berkshire Hathaway, the 90-year-old investor legend from Omaha had earned significantly better at the beginning of the year. Operating profit increased by almost 20 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. The fact that Buffett named Greg Abel, who is currently responsible for the areas beyond the insurance business, as the future head of the company did not seem to worry investors: Berkshire Hathaway’s B shares rose 1.4 percent, continuing their record run.
At the biotech company Ocugen, investors could look forward to a price jump of around 15 percent and the highest share price since February. A study by Indian scientists is now also optimistic about the effectiveness of the corona vaccine candidate Covaxin against the Brazilian variant, after the same had already become apparent against the British variant, the company said. In the course of the advancing wave of vaccinations, the mutants of the virus in particular come into focus as a possible new threat.
In contrast, the investors punished Estee Lauder with price losses of five and a half percent. The cosmetics manufacturer had reported a disappointing sales development for the first quarter. Before that, however, the shares had been chased from record to record.
For Tesla papers, which only recovered from a price slide of several days on Friday, it was more than three percent downhill. According to media reports, the start of production at the new Grünheide location near Berlin has been postponed.
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