NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Only slightly influenced by the current US job market data, Wall Street is likely to open with moderate gains on Friday. Around three quarters of an hour before the start of trading, broker IG estimated the Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) to be 0.2 percent higher at 35,274 points. This indicates a weekly loss of around half a percent for the leading US index. The technology-heavy select index NASDAQ 100 is expected to rise 0.4 percent on Friday.
The US economy created slightly fewer jobs than expected in July. Unemployment fell surprisingly and continues to point to a robust situation on the labor market. Average hourly wages increased by 0.4 percent month-on-month, slightly more than forecast. Helaba economist Ulrich Wortberg said that the cooling off is still a long time coming: “Therefore, certain inflationary risks are emanating from the labor market, so that the monetary watchdogs will probably continue to avoid declaring the end of the interest rate hike cycle.”
Meanwhile, the quarterly reporting season for US companies has already peaked and was particularly strong from the point of view of technology companies. However, this was not adequately rewarded by the stock market, which had already priced in the rosy prospects, according to stockbrokers. According to calculations by the Bloomberg news agency, almost 90 percent of the technology companies that have presented their quarterly reports so far have exceeded the market estimates. Still, the stocks in question fell an average of 0.8 percent the day after, according to Bloomberg.
Gregory Halter, research director at Carnegie Investment Counsel, said the faltering stock rally came as no surprise, as this year’s gains have lifted valuations to levels last seen with interest rates hovering around zero percent.
Among the individual stocks, the heavyweights Amazon and Apple are likely to be the focus of investor interest. However, the numbers presented by the iPhone manufacturer and the online retailer on Thursday after the US stock market closed triggered very different price reactions. While Amazon rose 8.5 percent in premarket trading to its highest level in a year, Apple fell 3.1 percent. However, the papers of the technology group had marked a record high at the end of July.
Amazon marked a turning point with the second quarter, emphasized UBS analyst Lloyd Wamsley. The company was convincing in terms of retail sales, online services and margins. In the telephone conference, the management also pointed out that trading margins and web services still have potential for improvement. Amazon appears to have finally overcome last year’s period of weakness, added analyst Michael Hewson of broker CMC Markets.
The reactions to Apple were not quite as enthusiastic. Both Hewson and Jefferies analyst Andrew Uerkwitz spoke of mixed numbers. Sales only met expectations, but margins were slightly better than expected. iPhone sales were disappointing, according to Hewson. In addition, Apple has announced declining sales for iPad and Mac in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.
The biotech group Amgen once again raised its sales and profit expectations (EPS) slightly for the current financial year. In the first quarter, revenues were up 6 percent thanks to increased product sales. Earnings per share increased 5 percent also due to lower expenses. Experts had expected less for both indicators. Amgen shares were up 1.2 percent in premarket trading
2023-08-04 13:00:38
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