Stocks Rise on Wall Street Despite Concerns about Interest Rates and Economic Weakness in US and Europe

Stocks rose on Wall Street on Monday but were mixed in European stocks as the stock market was weighed down by concerns about further interest rate hikes and data pointed to economic weakness in the US and Europe.

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Investors were surprised on Friday by US employment data, which showed the US unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 3.5% in July from 3.6% in June, while wages rose, underscoring continued inflationary pressures.

Many investors had hoped that the US Federal Reserve (FRS) was close to stopping the cycle of interest rate hikes in order to achieve a “soft landing” for the world’s largest economy.

FRS spokeswoman Michelle Bowman hit back at those expectations on Saturday, saying “permanent evidence” of slowing inflation was needed.

Investors are expected to take a wait-and-see stance ahead of Thursday’s release of US consumer price data.

Oil prices fell, partly reflecting concerns over crude supplies after a Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian oil tanker in the Black Sea.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% to 35,473.13 on Monday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.9% to 4,518.44, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6% to 13,994.40 points.

London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1% to 7,554.49 on Monday, Frankfurt’s DAX fell less than 0.1% to 15,950.76 and Paris’ CAC 40 added 0.1% to 7319.76 points.

WTI crude oil fell 1.1% to $81.94 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. “Brent” crude oil price on the London exchange decreased by 1.0% to 85.34 dollars per barrel.

On the Dutch exchange “Title Transfer Facility” (TTF), the price of natural gas increased by 5.66% to 30.49 euros per megawatt hour on Monday.

The euro fell from $1.1012 to $1.1006 per euro on Monday, the British pound rose from $1.2748 to $1.2783 per pound, and the dollar rose against the Japanese yen from 141.77 to 142.47 yen per dollar. The value of the euro against the British pound fell from 86.35 to 86.07 pence per euro.

2023-08-08 06:14:58
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