NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Investors in the US stock market regained some courage on Wednesday. Relief came as the recent rise in bond yields paused. Oil prices, which have fallen significantly again, pushed the inflation concerns that had been dominating recently into the background. In this respect, the most important indices closed clearly in the black, with technology stocks in particular picking up. The strongly growth-oriented tech companies are considered to be particularly sensitive to interest rates because higher interest rates tend to increase financing costs and lower valuations.
The leading index Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) climbed 1.40 percent to 31,581.28 points. The market-wide S&P 500 rose by 1.83 percent to 3979.87 points. The tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 gained 2.07 percent to 12,259.39 points. Yields had risen significantly since early August in anticipation of sharp rate hikes to combat inflation. On the other hand, the stock markets came under a lot of pressure because the Fed’s tight policy increases the risk of a deep recession in the USA.
However, the central bank’s economic report published in late trading provided little new information. According to the Fed, the US economy is heading for difficult times. The prospects for the economy are weak and are likely to deteriorate further in the coming year. However, there is at least some hope when looking at the still very high inflation rate. There are signs that the increase is slowing down.
A few high-ranking Fed officials had previously expressed their displeasure monetary policy voiced. Vice President Lael Brainard said the central bank must raise interest rates to a restrictive level and leave them there “for some time”. She also sees scope for lower retail margins to ease pricing pressures.
On the company side, the eyes were primarily directed at Apple: the technology group had invited to a presentation of new products. Apple missed its new iPhones before the important Christmas business innovative innovations. This includes the ability to send emergency messages via satellite and a constantly active display on the more expensive Pro version of the iPhone 14. Apple is expanding its range of computer watches with a larger and more robust Apple Watch Ultra, which is primarily intended for extreme athletes and adventurer is intended. However, investors’ enthusiasm was limited: the shares only gained around one percent and thus lagged behind the market somewhat.
The airline United Airlines had increased its forecast for the third quarter due to high demand. The reason for the somewhat better prospects is strong demand during the holiday season, and business is also going well in September. The papers rose by five and a half percent. In the wake of this, shares in other airlines also posted some significant gains.
Otherwise, two small-cap stocks with larger movements were noticeable: As a result of a disappointing outlook for the third quarter, the shares in the robotics software specialist UiPath fell by more than eleven percent. In contrast, Coupa Software was up about 18 percent. The company had surprised positively with the figures for the second quarter and the targets for 2023.
The euro climbed back above par with the US dollar and was last listed at $1.0010. The European Central Bank had set the reference rate at 0.9885 (Tuesday: 0.9928) dollars. The dollar thus cost 1.0116 (1.0073) euros. The common currency was supported by the noticeable fall in natural gas and oil prices. Safe-safe US Treasury bonds recovered from their recent losses. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) rose by 0.45 percent to 116.11 points. In return, the yield on ten-year government bonds fell to 3.28 percent./la/zb
— By Lutz Alexander, dpa-AFX —