Wall Street is treading water
Hopes of an easing of monetary policy initially give share prices some momentum, but the gains fizzle out again over the course of the trading day. For some individual stocks, quarterly figures trigger strong price movements, with Foot Locker, for example, rising by a good 16 percent.
After a promising start, initial gains on Wall Street quickly melted away again. By the end of trading, the indices were close to their previous day's closing levels. The Dow Jones index closed slightly up at 35,430 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indices ended trading a tick lower.
The drivers at the start of trading were a further fall in market interest rates and the second reading of stronger US GDP growth in the third quarter. However, these effects then subsided again. This time, the impetus for interest rates came from inflation rates in Germany, which fell much more sharply than expected. This further fueled speculation that interest rates would fall again in 2024, which had already created a positive mood in previous days - and falling market interest rates. Some players also warned that the bond market was overbought and therefore susceptible to a correction.
The market no longer believes that interest rates will be raised again. On the contrary, it is pricing in an initial reduction in key interest rates in March with a probability of 48%, and the figure for May is already 78%. On Tuesday, US central banker Christopher Waller, among others, made statements that the market interpreted as dovish. The PCE deflator on Thursday, an important price measure for the US Federal Reserve, is now likely to be important for assessing the inflation trend.
When the US Federal Reserve's "Beige Book" economic report published during late trading showed that the economic outlook for the next six to twelve months has deteriorated, the mood in late trading became somewhat gloomier.
Tension ahead of the Opec+ meeting
The dollar was able to stabilize after its recent setback. The euro last traded at 1.0975 dollars, following an early high of 1.1017.
Oil prices rose again, by up to 1.8 percent. Market participants pointed to a storm in the Black Sea region, which had caused damage to Russian and Kazakh oil facilities, as one of the drivers, but above all to the Opec+ meeting on Thursday. Delegates said in advance that further production cuts of up to 1 million barrels per day could be agreed. However, this is not certain, especially as there is considerable resistance within Opec. A continuation of the current production cuts is therefore the most likely scenario.
Quarterly figures trigger very strong price movements
On the stock market, General Motors (GM) jumped 9.4 percent. The automotive group intends to significantly increase its payout to shareholders and announced an accelerated share buyback worth 10 billion dollars.
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise increased in price by 6.4 percent. Despite a decline in sales, the IT group achieved an increase in profits and beat analysts' estimates.
Crowdstrike Holdings (+10.4%) was back in the black in the third quarter thanks to an increase in sales. The provider of cybersecurity products also beat market earnings estimates.
Workday (+11.0%) also rose sharply - also following strong quarterly figures. Software manufacturer Intuit 's profit jumped sharply and more than expected. The share price gained 2.2 percent.
Foot Locker shot up by a good 16 percent after the sporting goods manufacturer raised its outlook. Nike gained 1.5 percent and Under Armour 1.9 percent in the wake. GameStop jumped 20.5 percent ahead of next week's earnings report. The shares of the entertainment software retailer are considered a so-called meme stock and are often traded very speculatively, especially by private investors.
Following a lowered outlook, the share price of electronics contract manufacturer Jabil fell by almost 12%. Las Vegas Sands lost almost 5 percent. Major shareholder Miriam Adelson sold shares worth 2 billion dollars. The background to this is that Adelson wants to buy into billionaire Mark Cuban's NBA basketball club Dallas Mavericks.
In the face of expectations of easier monetary policy, the Dow Jones index initially experienced a surge, eventually closing the day with a minor increase at 35,430 points. Despite the positive sentiment, share trading on Wall Street as a whole saw minimal progress, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices closing marginally lower.
During the trading day, the Dow Jones index, being one of the major Wall Street indices, experienced some fluctuation in share prices due to various economic indicators and market speculations, ultimately closing slightly above its previous day's level.
Source: www.ntv.de
