US investors grab tech stocks
The interest rate fears on Wall Street are over, now investors are waiting for signals as to when the Fed will loosen the reins again. Meanwhile, the US stock markets are continuing their upward trend. Technology stocks in particular are in demand - especially heavyweight Microsoft.
Investors on Wall Street once again piled into shares at the start of the week. The Dow Jones index of blue chips closed 0.6 percent higher at 35,151 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq advanced 1.1 percent to 14,284 points. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7 percent to 4547 points.
Microsoft was particularly in the spotlight: with the fired OpenAI boss on board , the software group reached a new record high. Following the announcement that Sam Altman was joining Microsoft, the share price jumped by two percent to a record 377.10 dollars at the start of trading. This increased the stock market value of the software giant by almost 54 billion dollars. This is more than ten times the amount Microsoft invested in OpenAI at the beginning of the year. A few days after his surprising dismissal from OpenAI, the ChatGPT creator is now to head a new team for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) at Microsoft.
Technology shares were among the biggest winners on Wall Street in November. All three major US stock market indices had recently risen as investors bet on an end to interest rate hikes in view of the easing price pressure in the US. However, before investors take on more risk, analysts said they were waiting for further indications as to when the Fed might start cutting interest rates.
"There will be some consolidation in the market over the next few weeks before the typical year-end Christmas rally," predicted Ken Polcari of Kace Capital Advisors. The previous rally was exaggerated. Market participants were hoping for clues as to the direction of US interest rates from the Fed minutes of the early November meeting, which are due to be published later in the week. The sales figures for the upcoming Black Friday should also provide an indicator of US consumer spending.
Investors on the currency market also continued to bet on an end to the US interest rate hike cycle. The dollar index lost up to 0.5 percent to 103.39 points at the start of the week. Meanwhile, speculation about production cuts by Opec+ drove oil prices up further. North Sea Brent and US WTI oil each rose by around two percent to 82.05 and 77.50 dollars per barrel respectively. The producer group, which brings together the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and other producers such as Russia, is expected to discuss further production cuts at its meeting at the end of November, according to a report. Oil prices have fallen by almost 20 percent since the end of September.
An upgrade provided a strong tailwind for Boeing. Shares in the US aircraft manufacturer rose by almost five percent after analysts at Deutsche Bank upgraded the shares to "buy" from "hold", citing accelerated deliveries.
Source: www.ntv.de
