new York Disappointing economic figures from China and fears of rapidly rising interest rates weighed heavily on US stock exchanges at the start of the week. Technology stocks in particular flew out of the depots, which closed the Nasdaq index around four percent lower – at 12,188. Shortly before the close of trading, the technology index even reached its lowest value since November 2020.
The leading US index Dow Jones Industrial lost 1.99 percent to 32,246 points and was thus at the level of March last year. The market-wide S&P 500 fell 3.20 percent to 3991 points.
“The fear has gotten so big that everything is being sold,” said Christopher Grisanti, chief equity strategist at MAI Capital Management. Investors were particularly concerned about long-term interest rates. “The higher they go, the more fear investors have of a recession or stagflation.” The yield on the ten-year US bond rose to as much as 3.2 percent in the course of trading, its highest level since November 2018.
After a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve of half a percentage point last week, many traders are expecting a further hike of 0.75 percentage points in June. “The concern is that the Federal Reserve will essentially ignore market conditions and stock market volatility and proceed with raising interest rates,” said Matt Stucky, portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Against this background, the dollar index climbed to 104.19 points, its highest level since December 2002. In the current uncertain environment, the world’s leading currency also benefited from its image as a “safe haven”, wrote the analysts at Barclays Bank.
Investors watched the military parade in Moscow marking the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 with a worried expression. In a speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of preparing an invasion of his country. Contrary to recent fears, however, he did not announce general mobilization or the use of new weapon systems.
Bitcoin crashes
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin came under pressure. The price collapsed at its peak by 14 percent to $ 31,000. Ether even slipped almost 17 percent. “In view of rising interest rates, investors are turning their backs on risky asset classes and are looking for fixed-income investment alternatives,” said analyst Timo Emden of Emden Research.
US stock market expert Koch: “The only thing that is continuous is the falling stock prices”
Individual values in focus
TeslaApple: Among the biggest losers on Monday were Tesla shares, which dropped by almost nine percent at the top. Supplier Quanta, which manufactures computer circuit boards for the electric car manufacturer, is struggling with increasing numbers of corona infections at its production facility in China. This also applies to Apple. The US company relies on Quanta for its MacBooks. Apple shares temporarily fell more than three percent.
Rivian: A media report about the sale of shares in the major investor Ford meanwhile caused Rivian’s shares to collapse by around 20 percent. Ford is selling eight million of its Rivian shares because the holding period for the shares expired on Sunday, CNBC reported over the weekend.
According to Refinitiv, Ford was Rivian’s fourth-largest shareholder with an 11.4 percent stake. The electric car maker scaled back its 2022 production targets due to supply chain issues.
Coty: The shares of the cosmetics manufacturer Coty fell by almost ten percent at times, even though the US company had raised its profit forecast for the full year.
Twitter: although Tesla boss Elon Musk is apparently making progress in financing the planned $ 44 billion takeover of the short message service, the Twitter share was in the red at the start of the week. At times she lost more than 3.6 percent.
More: Despite a record loss in April, Cathie Wood buys shares for 280 million dollars.