indexes in this article
NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The renewed attempt at a recovery on the US stock exchanges threatens to fail on Wednesday as well. Again, it was the prices of the tech giants that dragged the markets down. Heavyweights like Apple, Amazon and Microsoft came under pressure. The tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 fell 2.41 percent to 12,048 points, falling to another low since late 2020.
The leading index Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) held up comparatively well with a discount of 0.66 percent to 31,949 points. The market-wide S&P 500 fell 1.16 percent on Wednesday to 3954 points, its lowest level in more than a year.
Inflation again provided a headwind: consumer prices rose by 8.3 percent in April over the year. Analysts had expected a slightly lower increase on average. “Inflation is likely to fall, but not as much as the central bank is hoping for. The Fed will therefore remain under pressure,” commented economist Christoph Balz from Commerzbank. Inflation is also likely to remain higher than before the pandemic. Because of the tight labor market, wage costs rose more than they had in at least 20 years.
The news that the world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco (Aramco (Saudi Aramco)), has replaced the technology group Apple as the world’s most valuable company caused a stir on Wall Street. While Saudi Aramco’s share price had benefited from high oil prices in recent weeks, the iPhone manufacturer’s paper had come under increasing pressure due to rising capital market interest rates and concerns about growth. This Wednesday, Apple fell four percent to its lowest level in six months.
The prospect of rising interest rates is causing investors to sell technology stocks in particular. Because in the long phase of cheap money, investors had increasingly relied on high-growth tech companies. But now, given the high inflation, interest rates are likely to rise sharply, which could mean that Apple, Amazon & Co are overvalued. Amazon fell 3.3 percent and Microsoft 2.6 percent. Because of the heavy weighting of these giants in stock market indices, weak share prices drag the indices down with them.
Papers from Unity Software experienced a price debacle. The 3D game developer’s sales target fell short of expectations. That caused the price to collapse by over 36 percent to its lowest level since the IPO in September 2020. Unlike Electronic Arts, analysts praised the game developer’s more optimistic goals for the fiscal year. The price jumped 10 percent.
A disappointing sales target by payment processor Paysafe (Paysafe Group) for the second quarter weighed heavily on the stock, which fell 16.5 percent./bek/he
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