NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Investors mostly remained on the defensive on Thursday after the most recent slide in prices and only tentative stabilization the day before. US economic data paint a mixed picture and offer little guidance to the market as a whole. The picture presented by the major indices was mixed with the stable Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) and the weak Nasdaq.
The Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) stood at 31,172.48 points with two hours to go, up slightly by 0.12 percent. However, other indices showed weakness: The market-wide S&P 500 lost 0.46 percent to 3927.85 points. The NASDAQ 100 selection index, which recovered more strongly the day before, fell by 1.00 percent to 12,012.78 points.
After the unexpectedly significant increase in prices for US consumers, the weakening at the manufacturer level on the previous day helped calm things down a bit, Credit Suisse said. Irrespective of this, however, the experts’ conviction is growing that the US Federal Reserve will continue its restrictive interest rate course, even if growth suffers. They now expect the Fed to raise interest rates to 4.50 percent.
New US economic data did not provide a clear picture. Industrial production surprisingly fell slightly in August, while retail sales surprisingly increased. In the state of New York, the industrial mood brightened surprisingly significantly, but the business climate in the Philadelphia region has deteriorated. Retail sales, which increased in August compared to the previous month, attracted particular attention. However, last month’s reading was revised down significantly and sales excluding volatile auto sales have fallen.
On the corporate side, Adobe investors (Adobe) did not like the fact that the software company wants to take over the web design software company Figma. The willingness to pay around 20 billion US dollars for this resulted in a price slump of 16.5 percent. Analysts described the price as high. “Let’s be honest – it feels like Adobe is losing some momentum on Figma and as such it is seen as a better move to buy the competitor,” said Kirk Materne of analyst firm Evercore ISI. The aim is probably not to create a strong opponent.
In the wake of Adobe’s slide, software companies have been on investors’ sell lists across the board. Salesforce and Microsoft were the two biggest losers on the Dow, falling more than 2 percent.
The banks fared better in a strong international industry environment. In the Dow, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan (JPMorgan ChaseCo) stocks rose 1.8 and 2.3 percent, respectively. The banks are being supported by the sharp interest rate hikes by the central banks in the fight against inflation. Analyst Magdalena Stoklosa from the US bank Morgan Stanley believes that the positive interest effect has not yet been adequately recognized in an industry study. Banks can benefit from this in the lending business, for example.
With a price rally, Netflix stood out positively on the Nasdaq. The streaming provider’s titles rose 6.9 percent after Evercore ISI gave them a positive recommendation. Analyst Mark Mahaney sees enormous opportunities in the cheaper, advertising-financed Netflix subscription, which is scheduled to start in 2023. Most recently, the streaming king had to watch in the highly competitive market as the competition grew stronger./tih/jha/