NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Protests in China against the strict corona restrictions in the country spoiled the mood of investors on the US stock markets at the start of the week. Beijing’s harsh measures against the corona pandemic have triggered the largest wave of protests in the country in decades and are likely to further cloud the prospects for global economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) closed down 1.45 percent at 33,849.46 points after rising 1.8 percent the previous week to its highest level since April. The market-wide S&P 500 lost 1.54 percent on Monday to 3963.94 points. The tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 fell 1.43 percent to 11,587.75 points.
Market expert Andreas Lipkow explained that the events in China seemed to be an opportunity for many market participants to stand on the sidelines for the time being. The effects of the protests can hardly be estimated and represent a serious mixed situation for many industries and sectors. The protests have spread to many cities and production sites in China and could lead to significant disruptions in supply chains in Europe, the USA and Asia, Lipkow warned.
A prominent example is the iPhone manufacturer Apple, which is already clearly suffering from the events and whose shares slipped by 2.6 percent. According to an insider, production losses at the supplier Foxconn in the Chinese metropolis Zhengzhou are likely to reduce iPhone production by almost six million devices compared to the plan this year. Because of China’s strict pandemic measures, there have been protests and riots around the world’s largest iPhone factory in the past few weeks.
A report of another death linked to the antibody lecanemab used to treat Alzheimer’s weighed on Biogen’s shares, which fell 4.3 percent. Swedish development partner Bioarctic (BioArctic AB Registered B) stocks came under even more pressure.
After the publication of personal data of up to 533 million Facebook users, the parent company Meta (Meta Platforms (ex Facebook)) has to pay a fine of 265 million euros in Ireland. The meta titles ultimately lost 2.4 percent.
The shares of China’s largest agricultural online platform Pinduoduo, listed on the Nasdaq, jumped more than 12 percent. The company reported sales of nearly $5 billion for the third fiscal quarter, which significantly exceeded average analyst expectations.
Interest in US rival Univar Solutions, confirmed by German chemicals retailer Brenntag (Brenntag SE), pushed its shares up 4.5 percent. Whether there will be a transaction is still open. The chemical trading market is considered to be highly fragmented.
The euro lost its significant gains against the US dollar from European trading in US business and was last traded at 1.0338 US dollars. The European single currency had previously risen to almost $1.05, its highest level since late June. The European Central Bank (ECB) had set the reference rate at 1.0463 (Friday: 1.0375) dollars. The dollar had thus cost 0.9557 (0.9638) euros.
US government bonds rose slightly. The futures contract for ten-year bonds (T-Note Future) was last listed 0.03 percent higher at 113.06 points. Ten-year Treasuries returned 3.69 percent./edh/jha/