NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US stock exchanges are likely to start the new trading day cautiously on Wednesday in view of renewed fears of a recession. Three quarters of an hour before the stock market opened, IG assessed the Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) with a wafer-thin plus of 0.07 percent to 30,968 points. The indications for the standard stocks, which were still weak before the market started, had recently picked up, but there are signs of a solid start for the technology stocks, which were already particularly weak the day before: the broker recently saw the technology-heavy NASDAQ 100 0.2 percent lower at 11,614 points.
Economic concerns had already nipped Wall Street’s recent recovery in the bud the day before, as very weak consumer sentiment data had dampened it. Falling consumer confidence is fueling current concerns that the US could slide into recession. At the same time, investors fear that the US Federal Reserve is taking too much countermeasures with its rate hikes in the fight against inflation and will continue to stall the economy.
Some Fed members have recently tried to downplay the risk of a recession. Both New York Fed President John Williams and San Francisco’s Mary Daly acknowledged the need to cool inflation but stressed that a soft landing was still possible
“Central banks walk a very fine line and to some extent dictate market sentiment,” said Barclays equity strategist Emmanuel Cau. “It seems the market is caught in a tug-of-war between the hope that we are nearing the peak of inflation and interest rates and the challenge of a slowing economy and a possible recession.”
The currency guard is therefore under particular observation in the middle of the week. At a forum of the European Central Bank (ECB) speaks next to their boss Christine Lagarde also Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Among the individual values, the shares of the electric car manufacturer Tesla slipped by around one percent in pre-market trading. According to circles, the manufacturer is cutting other jobs because of the current economic crisis – 200 people from an autopilot project are to go. In addition, a plant in California is to be closed, it said. The shares of the Chinese competitor Nio, which are also listed on the Nasdaq, were meanwhile under considerable pressure after allegations of manipulation – the short seller Grizzly accused the company of artificially inflating its balance sheet and sales data.
On the other hand, the medium-term goals of the US logistics group FedEx are apparently well received by investors, the share rose by one percent in pre-market trading. Fedex has set itself further growth plans for the next three years and intends to further increase its profitability.
Bed Bath & Beyond, meanwhile, reported an unexpectedly large loss for the first fiscal quarter. The company is also changing its boss. At Pinterest, too, there could be a change in the top management floor – the long-time boss of the Internet company, Ben Silbermann, is resigning and is now making room for Google (Alphabet C (ex Google)) manager Bill Ready.
Internet shares from Amazon, Google, Meta (Meta Platforms (ex Facebook)) and Co. could also be worth a look in general – JPMorgan analyst Douglas Anmuth recently reduced his assumptions and price targets for the Internet industry in a comprehensive industry study in view of the current macroeconomic headwind , which on the one hand should dampen consumer desire for consumption and advertising spending./tav/jha/