NEW YORK (Dow Jones) — Wall Street started Friday little changed. Participants speak of a nervous business in the midst of new reports about the Ukraine trouble spot. It was recently reported that the pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk say they have started bringing civilians from the embattled region to Russia. This could be the pretext for Russia to invade Ukraine. The Dow Jones Index loses 0.2 percent to 34,244 points, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite show little change.
The fact that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov are due to meet at the end of next week has caused some relaxation. The violation of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine had already caused unrest on the stock markets the day before. The White House had again warned of an “imminent invasion” of Russian troops in Ukraine.
A war between Ukraine and Russia could prolong elevated inflation in developed economies by cutting off supplies of key commodities, said Hani Redha, portfolio manager at Pinebridge Investments. Russia is one of the world’s largest suppliers of oil, the largest exporter of wheat and a major producer of metals such as palladium, aluminum and nickel.
“Inflation is really the big issue that’s going to determine how the markets do,” says Redha. He expects markets to remain volatile as investors try to assess how central banks will react to higher prices and the development of the Ukraine conflict.
The oil price is under pressure again because an agreement with Iran in the nuclear negotiations would pump additional oil onto the world market. Gold prices eased only a little after Thursday’s sharp rise and remain elevated as a result. The bond market is being bought with the current reports on eastern Ukraine, and yields are coming under pressure. The dollar as a safe haven is also in demand, the dollar index rose by 0.2 percent.
Intel with forecast easier
Intel shares take a discount on statements by the chip giant at a meeting with investors. The course is 3.6 percent, because investors were apparently not good enough. Intel chief financial officer David Zinsner had forecast full-year earnings and sales that were both slightly above analyst estimates that had been circulating so far. He also announced a “slightly” negative development in cash flow.
Shake Shack is down over 9.8 percent precipitously. The restaurant chain has prepared the market for weaker-than-expected sales in the current quarter and has completely refrained from providing a sales outlook for the full year due to the ongoing pandemic uncertainties. The result in the past quarter was better than expected, although it was still negative.
The multimedia games manufacturer Roku exceeded expectations with the figures in the reporting quarter and also with the growth in new customers, but caused a bitter disappointment with the sales outlook. Roku justifies this with ongoing problems in the supply chain. The course buckles by 23 percent.
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INDEX last +/-% absolute +/-% YTD
DJIA 34,243.77 -0.2% -68.26 -5.8%
S&P 500 4,381.72 +0.0% 1.46 -8.1%
Nasdaq Comp. 13,718.39 +0.0% 1.67 -12.3%
Nasdaq-100 14,181.55 +0.1% 9.82 -13.1%
US Bonds
Term Yield Bp to VT Yield VT +/-Bp YTD
2 years 1.46 -0.5 1.47 73.1
5 years 1.82 -2.3 1.84 56.1
7 years 1.92 -1.6 1.93 47.5
10 years 1.94 -2.6 1.96 42.6
30 years 2.27 -2.7 2.30 37.0
FOREX last +/- % Fri 8:33am Thu 5:32pm % YTD
EUR/USD 1.1344 -0.2% 1.1368 1.1368 -0.2%
EUR/JPY 130.51 -0.1% 130.85 130.72 -0.3%
EUR/CHF 1.0443 -0.1% 1.0467 1.0460 +0.7%
EUR/GBP 0.8341 -0.0% 0.8344 0.8343 -0.7%
USD/JPY 115.04 +0.1% 115.08 115.00 -0.1%
GBP/USD 1.3599 -0.1% 1.3624 1.3625 +0.5%
USD/CNH (Offshore) 6.3234 -0.2% 6.3223 6.3336 -0.5%
Bitcoin
BTC/USD 40,349.19 -0.9% 40,607.28 41,908.65 -12.7%
ROHL last VT-Settl. +/- % +/- USD % YTD
WTI/Nymex 89.63 91.76 -2.3% -2.13 +19.7%
Brent/ICE 90.93 92.97 -2.2% -2.04 +17.3%
METALS last day before +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold (Spot) 1,896.78 1,898.52 -0.1% -1.75 +3.7%
Silver (Spot) 23.96 23.83 +0.5% +0.13 +2.8%
Platinum (Spot) 1,081.92 1,092.33 -1.0% -10.41 +11.5%
Copper Future 4.53 4.52 +0.3% +0.01 +1.6%
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 18, 2022 09:45 ET (14:45 GMT)
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