NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Wall Street is expected more firmly at the start of May. The broker IG valued the Dow Jones Industrial just under an hour and a half before the start, 0.60 percent higher to 34 079 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index is expected 0.29 percent higher. The record highs remain within striking distance.
Investors continue to weigh up the prospects for an economic recovery and the risks of rising inflation. Shortly after the opening, sentiment data from industrial purchasing managers will be on the program, which will provide information about the further recovery of the economy.
The previous week the US benchmark index closed with a loss of half a percent, but posted an increase of around 2.7 percent in April. The beginning of May is considered to be a weaker stock market month. Market participants therefore like to use the exchange rule “Sell in May and go away”.
Market expert Thomas Altmann from asset manager QC Partners referred to the latest statements by Fed member Robert Kaplan, who 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. Berkshire Hathaway shares were up 1.1 percent early on.
With quarterly figures, the cosmetics manufacturer Estee Lauder is also in view, whose shares plummeted by 3.5 percent before the market ./ajx/mis
– –