NEW YORK (Dow Jones) — On Wall Street, the recent positive trend continued on Thursday. Hopes that the interest rate peak in the USA would be reached soon, which had already been supported the day before, received new fuel. Market interest rates, which fell sharply again, were the main drivers of technology stocks. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite hovered at their highest levels since early April 2022. The semiconductor and software sectors of the S&P 500 gained 2.6 and 1.6 percent, respectively. The Dow Jones index lagged by a meager 0.1 percent premium to 34,395 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. According to initial information, there were 2,058 (Wednesday 2,219) price winners, 906 (756) price losers and 70 (55) unchanged shares on the Nyse.
Shares continued to be buoyed by hopes of an imminent end to the US Federal Reserve’s rate-hike cycle after consumer price inflation eased more-than-expected in June, data showed the previous day. The producer prices that have now been published confirm this trend. Here, too, the increase in June was weaker than forecast, both overall and in the core rate. In addition, a decline in initial jobless claims testified to the continuing good employment situation in the USA.
“Consumer price data is raising hopes that the US Federal Reserve will be able to lower inflation without plunging the US economy into recession. Cooling inflation and a strong and resilient labor market point to this suggests that there will be no recession in 2023. We believe the Fed has pulled off the perfect soft landing,” deVere Group CEO Nigel Green analyzed.
Pepsico convinces with figures and outlook
Meanwhile, the balance sheet season that was just beginning came into focus, including business figures for the beverage company Pepsico. These were well received by the market as Pepsico upgraded its outlook. The share gained 2.4 percent. Millerknoll’s business figures were disappointing at first glance. The furniture manufacturer closed the fourth business quarter with a loss. Nevertheless, some details of the number ID were better than feared – such as debt reduction, the course rose by 6.2 percent.
The food group Conagra (+0.5%) had increased sales thanks to price increases, but just missed the consensus estimates of analysts. Sales also fell, with Conagra blaming supply chain issues and customer reluctance to buy. However, the company is confident that the situation will normalize soon.
At Disney (+0.3%) it was well received that the entertainment group had extended the contract with CEO Robert Iger. The provider of satellite communications Viasat admitted technical problems, the course fell by 28.5 percent.
Dollar and bond yields under renewed pressure
Bond yields and the dollar continued to fall. The day before, the assumption that the interest rate peak would soon be reached in the USA had already pushed the greenback and market interest rates down sharply. The dollar extended its slide for the sixth straight day — the longest dry spell since September 2021. The dollar index fell 0.8 percent to the lowest levels since April 2022. In turn, the euro is gaining ground from the 1.12-US -dollar mark up off. “As recent jobs data has cooled and inflation is now close to target, the dollar is experiencing a sharp re-rating,” said TickMill Group analyst James Harte.
Oil prices continued to rise. The price was supported by hopes of a soft landing for the US economy without a recession and the weakness of the dollar. However, signs of falling oil exports from Russia also drove the price up.
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INDEX last +/-% absolute +/-% YTD
DJIA 34,394.62 +0.1% 47.19 +3.8%
S&P 500 4,510.01 +0.8% 37.85 +17.5%
Nasdaq Comp. 14,138.57 +1.6% 219.61 +35.1%
Nasdaq-100 15,571.98 +1.7% 264.75 +42.3%
US Bonds
Term Yield Bp to VT Yield VT +/-Bp YTD
2 years 4.62 -12.6 4.75 20.0
5 years 3.94 -13.5 4.07 -6.2
7 years 3.85 -12.4 3.97 -12.1
10 years 3.76 -10.2 3.86 -12.2
30 years 3.90 -5.3 3.95 -7.3
FOREX last +/- % Thu, 8:46 Wed, 17:20 % YTD
EUR/USD 1.1226 +0.9% 1.1144 1.1119 +4.9%
EUR/JPY 154.91 +0.5% 154.32 153.91 +10.4%
EUR/CHF 0.9643 -0.1% 0.9634 0.9662 -2.6%
EUR/GBP 0.8548 -0.2% 0.8566 0.8559 -3.4%
USD/JPY 137.98 -0.3% 138.44 138.42 +5.2%
GBP/USD 1.3133 +1.1% 1.3011 1.2991 +8.6%
USD/CNH (Offshore) 7.1483 -0.2% 7.1708 7.1695 +3.2%
Bitcoin
BTC/USD 31,699.14 +4.4% 30,344.32 30,709.36 +91.0%
CRUDE OIL last VT settlem. +/- % +/- USD % YTD
WTI/Nymex 77.29 75.75 +2.0% +1.54 -2.6%
Brent/ICE 81.68 80.11 +2.0% +1.57 -1.8%
GAS VT Settlem. +/- EUR
Dutch TTF 27.24 26.64 +2.3% +0.60 -66.8%
METALS last day before +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold (Spot) 1,960.63 1,956.79 +0.2% +3.84 +7.5%
Silver (Spot) 24.85 24.15 +2.9% +0.70 +3.7%
Platinum (Spot) 976.70 951.50 +2.6% +25.20 -8.6%
Copper futures 3.94 3.85 +2.5% +0.10 +3.2%
YTD relative to previous day’s close
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 13, 2023 16:08 ET (20:08 GMT)