NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – After a roller coaster ride, the US stock markets closed with a plus on Thursday. Overall, however, the mood remains tense in view of fears of a recession in the wake of high inflation and rising key interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) ultimately gained 0.64 percent to 30,677.36 points. The market-wide S&P 500 increased by 0.95 percent to 3795.73 points. The technology stock-heavy NASDAQ 100 rose 1.47 percent to 11,697.68 points.
Weekly initial jobless claims fell slightly less than expected. Sentiment among purchasing managers in manufacturing and the service sector was worse than forecast in June. On Wednesday, US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged the possibility of a recession. Avoiding such a thing is “very challenging”.
Because of the ongoing concerns about the economy, oil prices fell again on Thursday. This once again resulted in significant losses among lac stocks. Chevron shares were among the weakest in the Dow with a drop of 3.7 percent. ExxonMobil shares fell 3 percent.
Bucking the general market trend, Nike shares rose 2.9 percent, making them among the most attractive stocks in the Dow. The world’s largest sporting goods company wants to withdraw completely from Russia in view of the ongoing war against Ukraine. Like many other Western companies, Nike had already significantly restricted its business in Russia after the invasion of the Ukraine.
The troubled e-cigarette company Juul is no longer allowed to offer its products on the US home market. The FDA on Thursday issued a sales ban on the grounds that Juul’s products posed too great a risk to public health. An e-cigarette epidemic among US youth put the FDA under pressure to act.
Corresponding press reports had already caused the shares of the US tobacco company Altria to collapse by more than 9 percent the day before. Of the Marlboromanufacturer had acquired a 35 percent stake in Juul in December 2018 for $12.8 billion. Meanwhile, Altria has almost completely written off the stake. Most recently, she was still on the balance sheet with a value of 1.6 billion dollars. On Thursday, Altria shares rose 2.4 percent.
Robert Half International shares fell 6.3 percent after Bank of America (BofA) downgraded the staffing company’s shares by two notches from “buy” to “underperform” and the price target from $133 to $67 was practical had halved. As analyst Heather Balsky wrote in a study available on Thursday, labor market conditions are likely to become more difficult in 2023.
The euro last cost 1.0522 US dollars. The European Central Bank had set the reference rate at 1.0493 (Wednesday: 1.0521) dollars. The dollar had thus cost 0.9530 (0.9505) euros.
US government bonds rose significantly. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) recently rose by 0.49 percent to 117.53 points. In return, the yield on ten-year government bonds fell to 3.10 percent./edh/mis