NEW YORK (awp international) – Little changed with no clear direction, the US stock markets are likely to start trading on Thursday. Around three quarters of an hour before the start of trading, the broker IG rated the leading index Dow Jones Industrial around 0.1 percent higher at 34,596 points. IG expected the technology-heavy and very volatile Nasdaq 100 to fall by around 0.1 percent.
In addition to the quarterly reports of some US financial institutions, investors are focusing on a takeover bid for Twitter by Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO is offering $54.20 in cash per Twitter share. That’s 54 percent more than the paper cost on Jan. 28, the day before Musk began investing in Twitter. Just a few days ago, Musk had renounced a post on the board of directors on Twitter. The shares of the short message service initially rose by more than 13 percent in pre-market US trading and were last listed up 6.9 percent to $ 48.99. Tesla shares, on the other hand, were under pressure before the market with losses of 2.3 percent.
The US investment bank Goldman Sachs was far from able to repeat its record profit from the beginning of 2021 at the start of the new year. On balance, shareholders accounted for a surplus of $3.8 billion in the first quarter, down 43 percent year-on-year. However, the financial institution still performed better than analysts had expected on average. Goldman shares are up 1.2 percent premarket.
The US investment bank Morgan Stanley earned significantly less at the beginning of the year. In the first quarter, profit fell by around 11 percent compared to the previous year. Total yields fell 6 percent. Despite the sharp declines, the results beat analysts’ forecasts. In particular, the trading business with securities developed better than assumed on Wall Street. The stock reacted pre-market with an increase of 0.9 percent.
The US bank Wells Fargo started the year with a significant drop in profits due to declining income, for example in bond trading. In the first quarter, the money house earned almost 3.7 billion US dollars (3.4 billion euros), almost a billion less than a year earlier. Bank boss Charlie Scharf expects more bad loans in the foreseeable future. Shares were down 4.0 percent in premarket US trading.
The financial group Citigroup also started the fiscal year with significantly less profit. In the first quarter, the surplus fell by around 46 percent year-on-year to $4.3 billion. Total revenue fell just 2 percent to $19.2 billion. Overall, the quarterly figures exceeded expectations. Trading in securities in particular proved to be relatively stable during the stock market downturn. The stock gained 1.9 percent premarket.
The US health insurer UnitedHealth increased its surplus by around 3 percent in the first quarter. The company performed better than analysts had expected on average. UnitedHealth boss Andrew Witty now expects higher earnings per share than before for the current year. Shares fell 0.4 percent in premarket U.S. trade. /edh/men
–
