The record high sales at Tesla are also driving up the share prices of competitors.
(Photo: Reuters)
Frankfurt, New York The US markets reacted calmly to the hearing given by Fed chief Jerome Powell. The Nasdaq, which had come under strong pressure in the past few days due to concerns about rising interest rates, is trading in New York by 1.2 percent. The leading index Dow Jones and the broader S&P 500 also rose slightly.
In a previously published speech, Powell had declared war on inflation. The US inflation rate climbed to 6.8 percent in November – the highest value since 1982. For the December data due on Wednesday, an increase to 7.0 percent is expected. Delivery problems, material bottlenecks and almost exploding energy costs are further fueling inflation.
In the financial markets, following signals from the leadership of the Fed, there is speculation that the Fed could initiate a turnaround in interest rates as early as March and take further tightening steps this year to counter the sharp rise in prices. The key interest rate is currently in the range of zero to 0.25 percent.
The Fed’s monetary politicians signaled in December that they could raise interest rates three times this year. Goldman Sachs economists expect four interest rate hikes. Jamie Dimon, CEO of major bank JP Morgan Chase, believes there could be even more. “I am confident that we can achieve price stability,” Powell said to the senators.
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In terms of stocks, Vir Biotechnology was one of the favorites with a price gain of 5.3 percent. The US government ordered an additional 600,000 doses of a drug to treat coronavirus patients from the pharmaceutical company. The titles of development partner GlaxoSmithKline gained up to 1.3 percent in London and, at 1663 pence, are as high as they were last year and a half.
Further individual values in focus:
Biontech: The company expects sales of up to 17 billion euros with its Covid-19 vaccine this year. Last year, as previously predicted, sales were likely to have been between 16 and 17 billion euros. In 2022, CEO Ugur Sahin expects a range of 13 to 17 billion. Biontech confirmed that a vaccine adapted to the Omikron variant of the coronavirus could be available as early as March. Overall, the company is aiming for a production capacity of up to four billion vaccine doses this year. The share is down 1.8 percent.
Rivian: The shares rose 1.7 percent. Rod Copes, who is responsible for operations on the board, has left the electric vehicle manufacturer.
Juniper Networks: Bank of America had upgraded the stock from “underperform” to “buy”. Most network providers are still attractively valued and the current forecasts by Juniper’s management are conservative. The share rose 2.7 percent.
IBM: The shares fell 4.2 percent after the Swiss bank UBS downgraded the company’s shares from “neutral” to “sell”. The reasons were risks for the operating result as well as an allegedly “excessive valuation”.
CVS Health: The drugstore operator raised its profit forecast for the full year. The company now expects earnings of 8.33 to 8.38 dollars per share, the previous forecast was at least eight dollars, the current consensus estimate was 8.03 dollars per share. CVS shares up 0.9 percent.
Abercrombie & Fitch: Abercrombie & Fitch’s shares rose 3.8 percent despite the clothing retailer lowering its sales forecast for the quarter. However, sales recovered after the holidays.
More: These eight stocks are the bearers of hope for the stock market year 2022.