Sheriff Adel (Washington)
Most US stocks outperformed news from China, which indicated authorities shut down many cities after the epidemic re-spread there, to end major indexes soaring, despite declines in the Nasdaq and S&P indices 500 in the last trading days.
In a short week that saw markets close on Thursday for Thanksgiving, and then just half a day on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.45% on the last day, ending the week 1.78% higher compared to the beginning. In the same week, the S&P 500 index rose 1.53%, while the Nasdaq index posted weekly gains of 0.72%.
US equities benefited this week from the release of the minutes of the Fed meeting, which was held three weeks ago, and showed the tendency of most of its board members to ease the pace of interest hikes on bank funds in the coming weeks .
Relatedly, the National Health Committee in China said on Friday that the country recorded 32,943 new Corona virus infections on Thursday, so that the country has witnessed more than thirty thousand cases, as a result of the epidemic, for the third consecutive day, which did not happen in the darkest moments. The spread of the virus, the year before.
Cities close
Authorities have been forced to extend the shutdowns of many cities where the outbreak has spread, which analysts said has impacted major American tech companies that manufacture their products in China, in a way that could lead to to an acceleration of the world economies are entering a recession, which many are expecting during the first half of next year.
And on Friday, Reuters news agency said that shares of Apple, which alone account for more than 7% of the value of the S&P 500 index, fell 2% in trading on Friday following news of a iPhone shipments from a Foxconn factory in China fell in November as production was hit by Covid-related labor unrest.
retail companies
Also contributing was a series of strong retail earnings reports that showed the continued strength of US consumer spending despite growing fears of weakness creeping into the world’s largest economy. Next week, investor eyes eagerly await further earnings reports from some other retail companies, such as Kroger and Ulta Beauty, as everyone awaits new statements from members of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors, through which it will be possible know the directions of the largest central bank in the world in the coming period. .
In addition, the Fed’s Personal Consumption Spending report, one of the Fed’s leading inflation indicators, will be released next Thursday, and the November jobs report on Friday.
