new York After a very weak week on the stock market up until Thursday, US stocks managed to stabilize on Friday. Statements by US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on the course of interest rate hikes calmed investors a little. The leading index Dow Jones Industrial closed with an increase of 1.47 percent to 32,197 points. On a weekly basis, however, there is a loss of a good two percent. The day before, the Dow had fallen to its lowest level since March last year.
The market-wide S&P 500 rose by 2.39 percent to 4024 points on the last trading day of the week. The price gains on the Nasdaq stock exchange, which is dominated by technology companies, were even greater. The Nasdaq 100 recovered 3.70 percent to 12,387 points. But here, too, the losses added up to almost two and a half percent on a weekly basis.
The negative factors that had sent prices plummeting in recent weeks have not disappeared: the Ukraine war continues to rage on, the US Federal Reserve is in the middle of a rate hike cycle and China is fighting the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic with strict lockdowns.
“It’s probably more of an attempt to get a bargain,” Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at asset manager Globalt, said of Friday’s gains. “There’s not really the kind of evidence to suggest this is the market bottom yet, it suggests we’re close, but there probably needs to be some more pain.”
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Oil price picks up again – Bitcoin on course for recovery
On the crude oil market, the discussion about an EU embargo on Russian oil supplies pushed prices up again. The Brent variety from the North Sea rose in price by 3.86 percent to $111.60 per barrel (159 liters). However, speculation about lower demand from top buyer China slowed the rise because of the economic risks there, said Stephen Innes, managing director at asset manager SPI.
“Investors are waiting for a light at the end of the Chinese lockdown tunnel.” The falling number of cases on the one hand and the repeated tightening of the pandemic restrictions on the other plunged her into an emotional roller coaster.
Bitcoin investors also used the recent price losses to re-enter. The oldest and most important cyber currency gained five percent to around $29,900. “It remains to be seen whether the recovery attempt will be sustainable,” said analyst Timo Emden from Emden Research. “All of the recent countermovements were of a temporary nature and were regularly sold off again.”
Bargain hunters are mainly in the tech sector these days. Growth stocks Microsoft, Apple, Google-owner Alphabet, Amazon.com and Nvidia are up between 3% and 9% during the course of trading after falling for most of the week.
Individual values in focus
Twitter: For companies, the focus is on Twitter. At times, the shares collapsed by around eleven percent – and were down more than nine percent at the end of trading. Tesla boss Musk put the $ 44 billion takeover on hold and justified this with the lack of information on the number of spam and false accounts at the short message service.
United Airlines: United Airlines shares climbed 4.2 percent. A basic agreement with the pilots’ union on new contract terms is driving the papers.
Tesla: Tesla shares gain 5.7 percent. “Tesla shares are reacting with some relief to the possibility that CEO Musk would have to sell less of his stake to fund the Twitter purchase and have more time to focus on running the world’s largest electric vehicle maker,” Ben Laidler said , market strategist from broker eToro.
Affirm Holdings: Affirm reported a quarterly loss of 19 cents a share. Analysts had previously expected a loss of 51 cents. The fintech company’s revenue beat forecasts. Affirm then raised its full-year revenue guidance and announced the extension of its ongoing partnership with e-commerce platform operator Shopify. The stock climbed 31 percent.
Wall Street expert Koch: “Will Elon Musk renegotiate the Twitter deal?”
Duolingo: The language software provider’s shares rose by 34.02 percent. The company previously reported a smaller quarterly loss and better-than-expected revenue. According to Duolingo, the number of active users has reached an all-time high. The company also provided an upbeat revenue forecast for the current quarter.
Robinhood Markets: In the financial sector, the shares of the brokerage app Robinhood Markets shoot up by almost 25 percent thanks to a new major shareholder. Samuel Bankman-Fried, CEO and founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, disclosed a 7.6 percent stake in the company.
figs: Shares of the healthwear company plunge 24.9 percent after Figs’ latest quarterly results missed estimates and issued a weaker-than-expected full-year guidance.
More: Post-correction investment opportunities: These tech stocks are worth a second look