(Photo: AP)
new York After the initial shock about a possible sharper tightening of US monetary policy, some calm has returned to Wall Street. The US standard value index Dow Jones was just up on Thursday at 36,415 points. The broad S&P 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq each gained almost half a percent. On Wednesday they had slipped by up to three percent.
The tenor of the transcripts of the recent Fed deliberations suggests that the Fed is concerned about inflation, said Nancy Davis, founder of asset manager Quadratic Capital. “We believe the Fed will be more prudent and allow itself more time to assess the economy before embarking on a buoyant rate hike cycle and reducing its holdings.”
Bonds and tech stocks under pressure – banks in demand
In order to reduce its securities holdings, a central bank can no longer reinvest or actively sell the money from expiring bonds. Against this background, government bonds flew out of the depots. This drove the yield on landmark 10-year US Treasuries to a nine-month high of 1.753 percent.
US technology groups such as Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, whose shares lost up to one percent, also came under pressure to sell. Experts say that higher interest rates will devalue future profits for these high-growth firms. The prospect of a tighter monetary policy also made the “anti-inflation currency” gold less attractive. The precious metal lost around one percent to $ 1,790 a troy ounce (31.1 grams).
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The prospect of rising interest rates, on the other hand, boosted financial stocks as they see bigger gains during these times. Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan stocks were up 3.3 percent.
Unrest in Kazakhstan is driving up oil prices
The oil price also went up. The US variety WTI increased in price by a good two percent to 79.45 dollars per barrel (159 liters). Commerzbank analyst Barbara Lambrecht cited the unrest in Kazakhstan as one of the reasons. “The country is currently producing an oil production of 1.6 million barrels per day.” Against this background, the stocks of oil companies such as Exxon or Chevron gained up to 1.7 percent.
Kazakhstan is also the world’s largest uranium exporter. Initial speculations about supply bottlenecks quickly vanished after the world’s largest uranium producer Kazatomprom announced that mining operations and exports had not yet been affected by the unrest. As a result, the listed Global X fund (ETF) on uranium miners fell 4.1 percent.
Look at further individual values
Rivian: The plan of major shareholder Amazon to develop electric vans together with Stellantis sends Rivian downhill. The shares of the electric truck supplier fell by almost eleven percent when it went public and, at $ 80.46, were cheaper than ever since the IPO two months ago. The share later traded minus six percent. The shares of Opel parent company Stellantis listed in the USA increase by 2.8 percent. According to a mandatory publication, the online retailer Amazon had ordered up to 100,000 vans from Rivian.
AT & T / Vicaom: A possible sale of the TV channel chain CW Network gives the two owners AT&T and Viacom a boost. The shares of the telecom provider and the media group rise by up to two percent. According to the “Wall Street Journal”, the two companies are considering a partial sale and a complete exit. A possible buyer is Nexstar Media, whose titles gain 1.8 percent.
Societe Generale: The favorites also included the shares of ALD, which rose eight percent in Paris. The car leasing company wants to take over rival LeasePlan for 4.9 billion euros. The company expects the deal to improve net profit by five percent from 2024. The titles of ALD parent Societe Generale (SocGen) gained 1.9 percent.
Walgreens: The shares of the drugstore operator slipped 1.1 percent. Although the company beat estimates for the most recent quarter on both the profit and loss side. Walgreens made $ 1.68 per share on an adjusted basis, compared to the consensus estimate of $ 1.33. The demand for Covid-19 vaccinations and tests had boosted profits.
Bed Bath & Beyond: The household goods retailer’s share rose 8.8 percent. The company reported an adjusted quarterly loss of 25 cents per share. Analysts did not expect any losses. Total sales and sales on a comparable area also fell short of the experts’ forecasts.
Constellation Brands: In demand were the papers from Constellation Brands, which rose by up to 1.7 percent to a record high of 257.78 dollars. The quarterly results of the “Corona” brewer were above market expectations thanks to a surprisingly strong wine and spirits business, praised analyst Kevin Grundy of the Jefferies investment bank. The raised profit targets also surprised positively.
Boeing: The US airline Atlas Air has ordered four large 777F cargo planes from the aircraft manufacturer. But the Boeing share is down 0.6 percent. The company announced on Thursday in Seattle that the order was received in December. According to the price list, the order has a total value of around 1.4 billion US dollars (1.2 billion euros). However, high discounts are common when ordering aircraft.
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