(ABM FN-Dow Jones) Wall Street ended higher on Friday. The S&P 500 rose 2.4 percent at 4,431.85 points, the Dow Jones index gained 1.7 percent at 34,725.47 points and the Nasdaq closed 3.1 percent in the green at 13,770.57 points.
On a weekly basis, the Dow and S&P rose, while the Nasdaq paused.
Market analyst Michael Hewson of CMC Markets pointed to Apple’s strong Q1 results, which are a welcome outlier amid the underlying negativity seen in the market this week.
Much attention was also paid to core PCE inflation on Friday. The inflation indicator, which is important for the Federal Reserve, stood at 4.9 percent on an annual basis in December. After inflation of 4.7 percent in November, an increase to 4.8 percent was expected.
Hewson pointed out that inflation hadn’t been this high in the US since 1983. Income in the US rose by 0.3 percent in December, while spending fell by 0.6 percent.
Earlier this week, the Fed’s interest rate decision already showed that high inflation is forcing the central bank to scale back its easing policy more quickly.
“Market expectations of four or five rate hikes this year will not derail growth or the stock rally,” said UBS CIO Mark Haefele. He is also counting on the situation in Ukraine not escalating.
Consumer confidence as measured by the University of Michigan weakened in January.
The US 10-year yield was trading at 1.78 percent on Friday evening. For every euro, investors were paid $1.1148. The oil price rose slightly on Friday. At a settlement of $86.82, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate became about 0.2 percent more expensive. On a weekly basis, a barrel of WTI was worth around 2 percent.
Geopolitical tensions remain at the forefront towards the weekend, with concerns over a Russian invasion [in Oekraïne] and ongoing tensions in the Middle East,” said market strategist Phillip Streible of Blue Line Futures.
Next Wednesday, OPEC and its allies, including Russia, will meet to discuss current production agreements.
So far, OPEC+ is sticking to its commitments and increasing production by 400,000 barrels per day per month, despite pressure from the United States and a number of other countries to increase output more quickly.
“I expect the OPEC+ meeting will result in maintaining current targets,” said Strategic Energy & Economic Research analyst Michael Lynch.
Company news
Apple broadly beat expectations for the past quarter. Revenue increased year-on-year from $111.4 billion to nearly $124 billion in the first quarter. Analysts consulted by FactSet estimated it at $119 billion. Apple’s net income rose from nearly $28.8 billion to a record $34.6 billion, or $2.10 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet were forecasting $31.3 billion or $1.90 per share for the quarter. The stock rose nearly 7 percent.
Visa delivered higher-than-expected results in the first quarter of its current fiscal year. This was rewarded Friday with a gain for the stock of more than 10 percent.
Caterpillar continued to grow in the fourth quarter and profits also exceeded analysts’ expectations. The stock lost more than 5 percent.
Colgate-Palmolive has achieved its own goals in 2021 and for the current fiscal year the company expects organic sales growth of another 3 to 5 percent. The stock closed slightly higher.
Chevron fell more than 3.5 percent, despite more than $5 billion in profit, while the fourth quarter of 2020 was still loss-making. Earnings, however, were much lower than analysts had anticipated.
Robinhood Markets revenue increased in the fourth quarter of 2021. but less than analysts expected. The stock lost some ground in after-hours trading on Thursday, but rose about 9 percent on Friday.
Bron: ABM Financial News–
From Beursplein 5, the editors of ABM Financial News keep a close eye on developments on the stock exchanges, and the Amsterdam stock exchange in particular. The information in this column is not intended as professional investment advice or as a recommendation to make certain investments.
