“US Stocks Suffer Fourth Day of Losses, Dow Jones Erases Year’s Gains”

The day after the Federal Reserve raised the interest on bank funds by twenty-five basis points, US stocks continued their decline for the fourth day in a row, so that their main indices turned red, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost all the gains achieved in 2023.

The decline in regional bank stock prices put pressure on US indices, as Pac-West Bankcorp was close to joining the list of collapsed banks in the country, losing more than 50% of its value during Thursday’s trading, less than a week after the collapse of the First Republic bank. It was acquired by JPMorgan Chase.

The price of the Regional Banks ETF (KRE) fell more than 5% during Thursday’s trading.

In Thursday’s trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.86% of its value, the S&P 500 fell by 0.72%, while the Nasdaq lost nearly half a percentage point of its value at the start of the day.

By the end of the day’s trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.06% lower than its value at the beginning of the year, under pressure from the shares of Boeing and Disney, Goldman Sachs and American Express.

In Europe, European stocks ended Thursday’s trading lower, after the European Central Bank eased the pace of raising interest rates, despite its indication of more monetary tightening in the future, while shares of the Swedish construction company Skanska fell due to the decline in its profits, due to high inflation and interest rates.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed down 0.5%, close to its one-month low, which it hit at the beginning of the week.

The European Central Bank raised interest rates by 25 basis points, the lowest rate since it began raising them last summer, bringing the benchmark for borrowing costs in the 20-country eurozone to 3.25%.

Oil prices at the settlement of futures contracts on Thursday were about the same as they were at the settlement on Wednesday, after the European Central Bank decided to slow the pace of raising interest rates, but prices remained down by more than 9% during the week, due to fears of falling demand in major consuming countries.

Brent crude futures rose 17 cents, or 0.24%, to settle at $72.50 a barrel, while US West Texas crude prices fell four cents, or 0.06%, to settle at $68.56.

Reuters said that oil prices fell this week due to concerns about a slowdown in the US economy and signs of weak manufacturing growth in China, the world’s largest oil importer, and fell further after the US central bank raised interest rates on Wednesday to their highest level since 2007.