Wall Street with thin gains
After the public holiday, trading in the USA is shortened. Impulses are in short supply. The focus is already on the OPEC+ meeting. Good news for retailers could come indirectly from there.
Wall Street has been treading water on the last and shortened trading day of the week. On the day of the "Black Friday" discount battle, it was not shares that were on the shopping lists, but Christmas presents, according to reports. The Dow Jones rose by 0.3 percent to 35,390 points. The broader S&P-500 gained 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.1 percent. After the Thanksgiving break the previous day, trading was only shortened. Turnover was correspondingly low.
Market players used the relative calm to take a look back: "The rally since the end of October has been pretty spectacular and within a month has made up pretty much all the losses between the beginning of August and the end of October. Too fast and too much? Perhaps," said market analyst David Morrison of Trade Nation, expressing skepticism about a possible year-end rally.
The market was weighed down somewhat by the renewed rise in bond yields. The fact that bonds lost ground may have been due to improved data from the services sector. Overall, the purchasing managers' indices for November were mixed. The industrial index fell into contraction territory, but the service index improved, and more markedly than expected. The service sector is of central importance for economic development in the USA.
How will the Christmas business be?
Among the individual stocks, retailers such as Amazon (unchanged), Walmart (0.9 percent) and Target (0.7 percent) were in focus due to business on "Black Friday" - the traditional kick-off to the Christmas shopping season. Some analysts expect the 2023 Christmas season to be similar to the years before the Covid-19 pandemic, which means that sales are unlikely to be as impressive as in the period immediately after the pandemic.
Greg Bassuk of AXS Investments, meanwhile, pointed out that the fall in oil prices and the decline in inflation could increase consumer spending power, which is a good sign for retailers. "Higher consumer spending and a strong earnings season will be a strong foundation to reverse some of the cautious retailer sentiment we heard in the recent earnings report."
Nvidia slipped 1.9 percent. The semiconductor company is postponing the launch of one of its new artificial intelligence chips destined for China, according to a report. The chip, called H20, is the most powerful of three China-focused chips Nvidia has developed to comply with new US export restrictions. Irobot shot up by 39.1 percent. According to a report, the EU intends to approve Amazon's takeover of the robot vacuum cleaner provider without restrictions.
Shares in Vista Outdoor rose by 3.9 percent after the Czech arms manufacturer Colt CZ Group submitted a cash and share offer of almost 1.7 billion US dollars to the sporting and outdoor goods group.
Yields rose on the bond market. Participants pointed to the day's service sector economic data and that of recent weeks, which largely confirmed the strength of the US economy. Bonds also followed their European counterparts, which had already come under pressure on Thursday. The dollar index fell by 0.5 percent.
On the oil market, prices once again tended to weaken. The focus was on the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the OPEC+ meeting. It had been postponed due to differences of opinion on production quotas and is only to take place online. The consultations, which are now only scheduled for November 30, led to speculation that the expected production cuts could be lower than expected. "If the current production level is maintained on balance, prices could temporarily fall slightly because there was simply not 'more'," Commerzbank analysts forecast.
Wall Street's focus has shifted from share trading to anticipating the OPEC+ meeting, as trading resumes after the public holiday with reduced hours and minimal impulses. During the shortened trading day, despite the "Black Friday" sales, the Dow Jones saw a slight increase of 0.3%, while the S&P-500 and Nasdaq Composite showed less positive results.
Retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target were in the spotlight due to their Black Friday business, with some analysts predicting that the 2023 Christmas season sales might resemble pre-pandemic levels. However, the positive impact on retailers could also stem from the fall in oil prices and the decline in inflation, as suggested by Greg Bassuk of AXS Investments.
Source: www.ntv.de
