NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – In New York, a weak start to trading is emerging at the end of a disappointing stock market year. On Friday, the broker IG valued the leading index Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) about three quarters of an hour before the start 0.5 percent lower to 33,067 points. IG sees the technology-heavy NASDAQ 100 down 1.1 percent at 10,827 points on the last trading day of the year.
Both indices would thus pay a little tribute to their clear recovery from the previous day. The Nasdaq 100 in particular had risen sharply. But that doesn’t change much about his weak monthly and annual balance sheet: December has so far recorded a decline of nine percent and for 2022 a price slump of a third. In the case of the leading index, the corresponding losses are significantly lower at four and eight and a half percent. But for him, too, the weakest stock market year since the financial and economic crisis of 2008 is on the horizon. Market observers speak of a “stock market year to forget”, which investors should now “simply check off”, but are encouraging with a view to the second half of 2023 in particular.
The United States has been less affected by the Russian attack on Ukraine and the subsequent explosion in energy prices than Europe, where stock prices have also fallen. But inflation also picked up speed in the USA, forcing the Fed to take countermeasures with significant interest rate hikes. This particularly affected the Nasdaq stock exchange, since the numerous technology companies listed there are more dependent on loans to finance their growth than companies from traditional sectors.
Tesla, Apple and Amazon were among the most traded stocks premarket on Friday. The three tech giants rose on Thursday as the Nasdaq recovered. The titles of the electric car manufacturer in particular had risen sharply with a plus of eight percent and, thanks to the second day of profits in a row, had recovered somewhat from a seven-day series of losses and a low since August 2020. However, they are currently threatening to fall back by more than two percent, and with a year-on-year decline of almost two-thirds they are certain of their status as one of the biggest losers in the Nasdaq 100. Apple and Amazon are showing daily losses of more than one percent each and year-on-year price declines of 27 and 50 percent, respectively.
For Southwest Airlines, the previous day’s stabilization could prove to be a flash in the pan, as the pre-market price drop of more than one percent shows. The airline was heavily criticized after a large number of flight cancellations during the harsh winter weather in large parts of the USA, but wants to largely keep its flight schedule again from this Friday./gl/jha