new York One day before the start of the accounting season, the US stock exchanges presented themselves inconsistently. The US standard value index Dow Jones was hardly changed on Thursday at 36,272 points thanks to dwindling concerns about more aggressive interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. In contrast, the broad-based S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell as much as 1.7 percent.
The rise in US producer prices, a leading indicator of inflation, eased to 9.7% year-on-year in December from 9.8% year-on-year. Analysts had expected a value of 9.8 percent. “The numbers are high and not good,” said Joe Saluzzi, manager at brokerage house Themis. However, since they failed as expected, they did not make anyone nervous.
On the other hand, unemployment in the USA rose surprisingly at the beginning of the year. The number of initial jobless claims rose by 23,000 to 230,000 last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists surveyed by the Reuters news agency had forecast a decline to 200,000.
Despite the omicron wave – which puts a strain on restaurants, airlines and hotels – the number remains comparatively low. At the same time, employers recently reported 10.6 million vacancies. The official unemployment rate was 3.9 percent in December, the lowest it has been in almost two years.
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Both values together ensured that the bond market eased. Weaker inflation and higher unemployment have reduced the pressure on the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more than expected.
Investors were hoping for fresh buying impulses on the stock market from the US accounting season. On Friday, the big banks Citigroup, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo open the number round. In the previous quarterly results, the financial institutions had made extensive provisions for possible defaults by their borrowers, said Fall Ainina, senior analyst at wealth manager James Investment. “But now the situation has improved significantly.” Against this background, the shares of the three banks mentioned rose by up to 1.4 percent. Wells Fargo shares hit a three-and-a-half-year high at $57.18.
Airlines get price plus – TSMC figures drive chip companies
Among the winners in the US stock market was Delta Air Lines, up 3.4 percent. Thanks to strong holiday sales, the airline made earnings of $0.22 per share in the past quarter, almost twice as much as expected.
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Hopes for the current quarter are pinned on March as January appears to be difficult due to winter weather and the omicron variant of the coronavirus, wrote analyst Helane Becker of asset manager Cowen. There are first signs that sick leave from staff has peaked. In the slipstream of Delta, the titles of rivals American Airlines and United gained up to six percent.
Also in demand were chip values, which benefited from the record profit of the world’s largest contract manufacturer TSMC. US manufacturers such as Lam Research, Texas Instruments and Applied Materials posted price gains of up to 6.5 percent. The latter hit a record high of $166.53.
With an increase of almost ten percent at times, Nikola’s shares were heading for the largest daily gain in three weeks. The Tre model from the supplier of electric trucks was included in a California purchase bonus program, according to the information. In the future, customers could get up to $120,000 in grants per vehicle.
Look at other individual values
Amazon: The online mail order company’s share price fell by up to 1.6 percent, i.e. around 58 dollars.
Apple: The technology company has lost up to 1.1 percent on the stock exchange. That’s up to $2 a share, bringing the company’s market cap back below the $3 trillion mark.
Facebook: Facebook also has to accept losses of up to 1.1 percent, which corresponds to around 4.40 dollars.
Alphabet: Google’s parent company, on the other hand, was the only tech company to suffer losses of less than one percent, up to 0.9 percent, which corresponds to around 25 dollars. According to experts, higher interest rates will devalue the future profits of these high-growth companies.
Big 5 sporting goods: A surprisingly strong Christmas business encourages investors to get started. The shares of the sporting goods retailer are heading for the largest daily gain in two months with a plus of nine percent. According to preliminary figures, the company made earnings in the fourth quarter of 0.84 to 0.86 instead of the previously targeted 0.55 to 0.70 dollars per share.
Boeing: According to a report by Bloomberg news agency, Boeing’s 737 MAX jet could resume service in China later this month. The share gained 1.7 percent.
Virgin Orbit: Later today, Virgin will launch its first commercial satellite since the IPO. The company’s stock was up 3.4 percent but was down 5.8 percent on Wednesday.
KB Home: The house builder reported quarterly earnings of $1.91 per share, up 14 cents above estimates, even though revenue was slightly below analysts’ forecasts. KB Home gave a positive outlook for 2022. The stock climbed 13.4 percent.
Sunrun: The solar equipment maker’s stock rose 2.2 percent after being named a top 2022 stock pick by Morgan Stanley.
Match Group/Bumble: US bank Goldman Sachs upgraded the shares of both dating services from “neutral” to “buy”. Both companies would benefit from “structural tailwinds” in the coming years. Match stock climbed 2.9 percent and Bumble gained 5.7 percent.
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