(ABM FN-Dow Jones) The American stock markets ended considerably lower on Thursday. The S&P 500 lost 1.9 percent at 3,918.32 points, the Dow Jones index fell 1.7 percent at 32,254.86 points and the Nasdaq closed 2.1 percent lower at 11,338.35 points.
Afternoon trading in New York saw a sell-off, with financials taking the brunt. Uncertainty was high in the run-up to the important US jobs figure, which will be published on Friday.
On Wednesday, Wall Street closed slightly higher after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell took a more nuanced tone by saying that nothing has yet been decided on the size of future rate hikes.
Still, according to AJ Bell, the message is clear: How big the next rate hike will be will depend on the economic data coming in, and that currently seems to be leaning more towards 50 basis points than 25 basis points.
“In one month we have gone from a story of rate cuts before the end of the year, to an imminent pause in the coming months, to how many rate hikes can we expect now?” said Michael Hewson of CMC Markets. .
“Tomorrow’s jobs report could reinforce the latter, if January’s job growth is not revised significantly lower and February also comes in strong,” the market analyst said.
Job growth in February is expected to be 225,000 with an unemployment rate of 3.4 percent and annual wage growth of 4.8 percent.
In January, no fewer than 517,000 jobs were added, with an unemployment rate of 3.4 percent and wage growth of 4.4 percent.
It was announced on Thursday that the number of new claims for unemployment benefits in the United States rose to 211,000 last week, from 190,000 a week earlier. This is more than the 195,000 economists had predicted.
The euro/dollar was trading at 1.0578 on Thursday evening. WTI oil became more than one percent cheaper.
Company news
Financials were under heavy pressure on Thursday. Bank of America lost more than 6 percent, JPMorgan Chase more than 5 percent, Morgan Stanley almost 4 percent and Goldman Sachs more than 2 percent.
Silicon Valley Bank’s parent company, SVB Financial Group, surrendered more than 60 percent after announcing a $1.25 billion equity offering.
FuelCell Energy halved its loss in the past quarter, while sales increased by 17 percent. However, the order book fell after certain projects were stopped. The stock rose nearly 2 percent.
Avenue Therapeutics closed more than 17 percent after the company said it would hold a meeting with the FDA about a study looking at the risks of piling on opioids.
Software company Asana gained 19 percent after announcing a share buyback of 30 million shares.
Tesla lost 5 percent following a share price loss Wednesday after regulators launched an investigation into problems with loosening steering wheels.
Eli Lilly’s drug doesn’t help memory loss in Alzheimer’s patients, a study found. The stock rose more than 1 percent.
Bron: ABM Financial News
The editors of follow from Beursplein 5 ABM Financial News developments on the stock exchanges, and the Amsterdam stock exchange in particular, closely. The information in this column is not intended as professional investment advice or as a recommendation to make certain investments.
